Designing for The Senses: A Sense–Space Planning Framework for Human-Centred Hospitality Interiors: Integrating Spatial Configuration, Sensory Conditions, and Materiality in Interior Architecture

Abstract

Hospitality interiors are not experienced through the eyes alone. The way a hotel lobby, restaurant, lounge, or reception area feels depends on how its space, light, sound, materials, temperature, and movement work together. Yet in much of practice these sensory decisions are made one at a time, as separate aesthetic choices, rather than planned together from the start. This paper develops and proposes a design-based evaluation of a Sense–Space Planning Framework for human-centred hospitality interiors. The framework draws on four established ideas: Bitner’s (1992) servicescape model, Spence’s (2020, 2022) work on the multisensory and crossmodal nature of architectural experience, Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) environmental-psychology model of emotional response, and recent evidence on lighting, acoustics, biophilic design, and wayfinding in hospitality settings. The framework treats sensory experience as an interaction between the environment, the user’s expectations, the activity, and the context, rather than as a fixed reaction to any single feature. It is organised into five stages spatial structure, sensory conditions, materiality, sensory sequence, and sensory evaluation each with clear planning questions and evaluation criteria. A design-based research method is proposed, combining literature review, comparative case studies, sensory and spatial mapping, iterative design development, expert review, and user evaluation. The central proposition is that coordinating sensory and spatial decisions explicitly offers a more systematic way to plan and judge hospitality interiors than a process focused mainly on function and appearance. Because the evidence base is still mixed (Bower et al., 2019), the framework’s value must be shown through application and testing, not assumed.