Scent Design: Toward an Architecture of Air

A new generation of artists, perfumers, and designers is using smell as a structural material — reshaping space, memory, and meaning.

Smell is the most direct route to memory, yet it remains the least explored sensory design tool. Appreciating contemporary perfumery is remarkably design-adjacent to architecture in many ways, including an appreciation for structure, material behaviour, and the development of a meaningful design narrative that can draw inspiration from site conditions or ecological factors. And yet, most designers have not stopped to critically assess the value of perfumery beyond browsing a duty-free shop or experiencing a scented lobby in a boutique hotel.