Scent and Memory

A familiar smell can bring a place back with unusual vividness. The association often belongs to an ordinary material or activity: a food prepared in a kitchen, a cupboard opened after a long absence. Smell participates in how a building is remembered, including aspects of its life that never appear in a photograph.

Rachel Herz's 2004 study examined odours linked to personal memories. Participants responded more emotionally to a meaningful perfume when smelling it than when viewing its image, alongside differences in brain activity. The perfume already had a history for the person encountering it. That personal connection is part of what makes olfaction important to design.

A building acquires its smells through use. Cooking, cleaning products, finishes and stored possessions contribute, while ventilation and the relationship between rooms affect where those odours travel. Bringing smell into a brief means understanding these sources and giving occupants useful control. An unwanted odour may be best addressed where it originates. A fragrance someone enjoys may be appropriate in a place where they can choose it.

The aim is an environment its occupants can live with and make their own. Its lasting associations will develop through what happens there. The design can support that life through sensible material choices, cleanable surfaces and a workable relationship between activities and air.