How many ideas for the future are hidden in things we already know, but have never thought to connect?

When we think about the future, we usually look towards emerging technologies, scientific discoveries and changing behaviours. Yet some of the most interesting possibilities emerge when we look somewhere entirely different. An idea developed centuries ago, in another discipline or cultural context, may offer an unexpected approach to a problem that is only beginning to appear.

Looking for patterns across disciplines, examining established knowledge in the light of emerging developments, and translating principles into unfamiliar contexts is part of how I approach design thinking. It can reveal possibilities that remain difficult to recognise when we examine each field separately.

One investigation began with the historical development of design itself.

We once concentrated on designing objects. Communication extended our attention to the messages surrounding them. Interaction design brought human behaviour and participation into consideration. These shifts gradually expanded what could become the subject of design.

Today, spatial computing, immersive media and multisensory technologies are introducing further possibilities. We can combine physical and virtual environments, compose experiences across several senses, and develop systems that respond to human behaviour. I began examining whether these developments indicate another expansion of design: towards the conditions under which we perceive and experience the world.

The investigation took me into Japanese approaches to design, aesthetics and human sensibility. After extensive research, I brought together three concepts that originated in different contexts: Shakkei, Kuukikan and Kansei. Their underlying principles suggested connections that became increasingly interesting when applied to emerging design problems.

The World Becomes the Canvas.

In traditional Japanese garden design, Shakkei, or borrowed scenery, incorporates the surrounding landscape into a composition. A distant mountain can become part of a garden through the deliberate arrangement of what is visible from within it. The physical boundaries of the garden do not determine the boundaries of the experience.

Consider what happens when we translate this principle into spatial computing. Existing buildings, surfaces and landscapes can become part of a digital composition. Virtual elements can be anchored to physical structures, selected visual information can be concealed, and perspective can be manipulated to change the apparent depth of an environment.

The world itself becomes available as material for design.

But borrowing an environment means working with more than its visible structures. Every place already contains light, sound, temperature, scent, movement and material qualities. They contribute to its character before anything new is introduced. Changing one element can alter the impression of everything around it.

The Air Becomes the Medium.

This is where Kuukikan, a Japanese expression for the felt atmosphere of a place or situation, enters the connection.

Atmosphere can be understood through the interaction of sensory conditions. A sound changes character depending on the surrounding noise or silence. Lighting influences our impression of materials and spatial proportions. Scent, temperature and movement can reinforce an atmosphere or introduce unexpected associations.

For design, this suggests treating sensory conditions as compositional material. It also opens another way of thinking about identity. A brand, cultural institution or environment can develop a recognisable character through the combined behaviour of its sensory elements, extending beyond its visual appearance into sound, motion, material, scent and space.

The existing atmosphere becomes part of what we compose.

And yet, even a carefully composed atmosphere does not produce an identical experience in every person. Recognition, expectation, familiarity, cultural learning and memory influence what we notice and how we interpret it. The same scent may be comforting in one cultural context and unpleasant in another. A familiar sound may barely register until a change in circumstances makes it significant.

Human Response Becomes the Design Field.

Kansei, the Japanese concept of human sensibility, introduces this individual dimension. It concerns how people sense, feel and respond to what they encounter. Applied to the investigation, it extends the composition beyond its physical and sensory properties to include the person experiencing them.

Connecting three historical concepts produces an interesting new perspective for the future.

What belongs to a composition depends partly on its surroundings.
What we experience depends on the sensory conditions within those surroundings.
And what those conditions mean depends partly on the person encountering them.

These influences also work in return. Human attention determines which elements of an environment become prominent. Expectations alter how sensory information is interpreted. Understanding those responses can change decisions about which parts of an environment to incorporate and how its sensory qualities are composed.

Approaching design problems across disciplines allows a spatial interface, a multisensory identity, an exhibition or an adaptive environment to be examined through a common process, while leaving room for the different demands of each project.

Following the evolution from objects to messages and interactions, I see a possible next direction for design in the composition of perceptual conditions.

As physical, digital and sensory environments become more closely integrated, the possibilities for what designers can create are expanding. We may find that some of the thinking needed to explore these possibilities has been available for a very long time, waiting to be connected in a different way.

©2026 Carolin Vedder

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