Multisensory Design: How to Create Spaces that Engage All the Senses and Enhance Real Estate Value

Why do some spaces captivate us instantly, inviting us to enter, stay, and return time and again? The answer goes far beyond the color of the walls, the furniture, or the lighting. Multisensory design emerges today as the most powerful trend to amplify the appeal, value, and profitability of spaces in real estate, retail, and hospitality, being key to seducing demanding and diverse buyers, guests, and visitors.

The science behind multisensory perception: what it is and why it matters

Multisensory perception is the human brain's ability to simultaneously integrate visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory stimuli to give meaning and significance to an environment. This integration is not a luxury or a fad: it is biological and decisive, especially when we talk about memory, emotions, and buying decisions. According to various studies, environments that activate multiple senses enhance wellbeing, recall, and preference—generating extremely high value for the real estate and design sectors.

Creating an environment that stimulates sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste can encourage purchases and evoke positive memories associated with a brand.Source: Salud Vital

The commercial impact of multisensory design: data and cases

Leading companies have demonstrated the enormous ROI of sensory design. In an experiment by the University of Paderborn, a pleasant aroma increased sales by 11% and the time spent in a store by 20%. Brands like Rolls-Royce have patented their characteristic scent to evoke luxury, and Starbucks designs olfactory experiences to stimulate consumption, reinforce brand personality, and expand satisfaction.

Beyond sight: how each sense influences the perception of a space

Although traditional interior design often focuses on the visual—colors, shapes, lighting, and furniture arrangement—the other senses have an equal or greater impact in generating emotions, reducing stress, and triggering the much-coveted wow effect in real estate marketing. Below, we explore how each sense contributes unique nuances:

• Sight: Color, visual textures, geometry, and natural/artificial lighting promote the perception of spaciousness, comfort, and personality.

• Hearing: Ambient sound, echo control, and the presence of acoustic elements (panels, furniture, curtains, plants) completely change the sensation of privacy, belonging, and calm.

• Smell: Pleasant and subtle scents can anchor memories, suggest luxury or cleanliness, and radically influence the shopping experience and desire to stay.

• Touch: Surfaces, fabrics, temperature, and ergonomics provide sensuality, wellbeing, and durability. Simply placing a hand on a warm or silky material elevates the perception of quality and comfort.

• Taste: Although less exploited, offering tasting experiences (cafes, showrooms, open houses) adds an emotional and multisensory dimension.

Practical multisensory design strategies in real estate projects and commercial spaces

Integrating all senses into design goes far beyond choosing a suitable color palette. It's about creating a sensory script where each element brings coherence and makes a tangible difference in the user experience (and in resale or rental value). Here are some ideas immediately applicable in real estate marketing and project development:

1. Integration of natural elements: Live plants, green walls, running water, wood, and natural stone not only please the eye but also bring freshness, aroma, humidity, and dynamic tactile sensations.

2. Selection and control of aromas: Choose fragrances associated with comfort or the lifestyle you want to convey. A clean scent for properties for sale, citrus for innovative offices, wood for premium apartments. Mind subtlety: less is more.

3. High-performance acoustics: Incorporate absorbing materials, soft surfaces, and decorative acoustic elements to achieve everything from silent showrooms to boutiques with personalized background music.

4. Contrasting textures: Incorporate a variety of materials—from marble, glass, and steel to linen, cotton, or leather—in walls, furniture, and supports. These details enrich tactile and visual experience.

5. Sound personalization: Entrances should have an auditory identity, from a special doorbell to exclusive playlists for each time segment or user profile.

6. Tasting activations: At events, open houses, exhibitions, and temporary uses, inviting guests to sample coffee, fresh water, or healthy snacks enhances emotionality and engagement.

Inclusion, neurodiversity, and wellbeing: the social dimension of multisensory design

Multisensory design is not only trendy for its aesthetics and commercial value: it is already a pillar of inclusion and mental health in architecture and interior design. In the United Kingdom, between 15% and 20% of the population is neurodivergent (autism, ADHD, dyslexia, etc.). Spatial planning must address hypersensitivity or insensitivity to certain stimuli—such as intense lights, loud sounds, or strong odors—so that all users feel safe and comfortable.

In the educational experience, multisensory learning has been shown to improve the understanding of abstract concepts by more than 37%, according to ResearchGate in recent intervention studies. Transferring these strategies to homes, offices, and stores strengthens the wellbeing and cognitive performance of users of all ages and profiles.

Want to dive deeper into universal design and inclusion? Explore our post on this topic at Universal design and inclusion: sustainable and innovative architecture and landscaping.

Multisensory experience and technology: toward customizable and measurable spaces

The emergence of new technologies (home automation, AI, voice assistants, smart climate control, and IoT devices) allows, more than ever before, to measure and automatically adjust light, sound, scent, and temperature to achieve optimal environments. Sensory design is no longer a subjective art: it can be objectively evaluated using environmental quality sensors, smart surveys, and predictive analytics that identify preference and wellbeing patterns.

Museums, hotels, and luxury flagship stores already apply digitally controlled sensory circuits, tailored activations, and automatic adjustments based on visitor profiles. This trend will soon reach residential developments, offices, and multifamily housing, enabling "à la carte" experiences that increase perceived value and satisfaction.

Designing for longevity: the power of memorable and adaptable

The great challenge (and opportunity) of multisensory design is to go beyond first impressions. Spaces that appeal to multiple senses leave a mark on memory, accelerate familiarization and emotional bonding with the property, and minimize sensory fatigue common in accelerated urban life. Additionally, sensory adaptation concepts—e.g., automatically adjusting the environment to the sensitivity of older adults, children, or neurodivergent individuals—significantly expand the target market.

Want to explore how to integrate sensory elements into projects for all ages? Visit our guide on intergenerational design and wellbeing.

10 key actions to turn any space into a memorable multisensory experience

1. Define your sensory script: What emotions do you want to evoke? Choose colors, materials, sounds, and aromas according to your goal.

2. Make a sensory inventory: Walk through your space identifying strengths and weaknesses in each sense.

3. Inclusive prioritization: Consider human diversity, age ranges, gender, culture, and neurodiversity in every choice.

4. Maximize natural light and regulate its intensity with blinds, curtains, automation, and smart glass.

5. Incorporate aromas gradually and strategically (programmed devices, discreet diffusers, aromatized textiles).

6. Create acoustically adapted environments using panels, furniture, and strategic vegetation.

7. Introduce contrasting materials and pleasant-to-touch surfaces at frequent contact points.

8. Design sensory paths: routes or zones with different experiences (e.g., warm and aromatic entrance, transition to calm spaces with natural fabrics).

9. Collect constant feedback (surveys, observation, IoT technologies) to measure impact and continuous improvement.

10. Communicate and educate: Highlight how your space has been consciously designed to stimulate multisensory wellbeing. This reinforces value for investors, clients, and visitors.

Future trends: immersive experiences, personalization, and Real Estate

As users demand increasingly personalized, adaptable, and memorable environments, sensory strategies consolidate as a differentiating element. Advances in immersive visualization, AI integration to analyze preferences, environmental wellbeing assistants, and the real estate metaverse will open new opportunities for multisensory design in marketing, sales, and loyalty.

Looking to project your multisensory design ideas with AI tools, virtual staging, and advanced visualization? Try the tools from Redesign, Fill Room or Motion by Deptho.ai and take your proposals beyond imagination.

Conclusions: The value of sensory design for professionals and owners

Multisensory design is not just a trend but an essential part of the new real estate, commercial, and hospitality paradigm. It generates tangible competitive advantages: accelerates decision-making, increases average tickets, extends visit time, and enhances positive perception of the brand and asset. Implementing sensory strategies means investing in wellbeing, inclusion, sustainability, and economic return. Ready to transform your spaces with meaning, emotion, and innovation?