Embodiment

Embodiment begins with a simple shift in thinking: we do not experience the world, our surroundings or a room as detached minds looking at a picture. We meet our surroundings with our whole bodies, our presence and our senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, temperature, balance, movement, memory, emotions and the nervous system.

Homes and design therefore do more than express taste or a particular style. Light can change our energy levels. Noise can keep the body on alert. A soft texture can hold the promise of touch and rest. The distance between objects can make movement easy or difficult. A space can evoke safety or unease before we have formed a conscious opinion about it.

Theories of embodied and extended cognition go further, suggesting that we use our bodies, objects and surroundings to remember, concentrate, find our way and understand the world. From this perspective, our surroundings and our homes are more than places where we think. They can become part of the thinking process itself.