Ritual, Memory and Multisensory Experience

Tide is a multisensory bath and scent lounge situated on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street. The project began by questioning how interior spaces can move beyond visual experience to engage the body through scent, touch, sound, temperature and memory.

The proposal responds to the changing identity of Sauchiehall Street. Historically shaped by theatres, music halls, cafes and social venues, the street has gradually become characterised by fast-paced movement, retail and visual stimulation. Tide introduces a contrasting condition – An interior that encourages visitors to slow down, pause and engage more consciously with their senses.

Scent became the primary spatial medium within the project. Initial scent mapping explored the invisible sensory landscape of Sauchiehall Street and its relationship with memory, while the historic connection between the area, water and the meaning of “Sauchiehall” (Willow Meadow) established water as another central element of the design.

Inspired by Scottish Selkie folklore and ideas of fluidity and transformation, the interior develops as a sequence of sensory rituals. Visitors encounter different top, heart and base scent notes, explore hydrosols and natural fragrances, and eventually create a personalised scent through their journey across the space. Water, reflection, humidity, material texture and sound work alongside scent to transform the everyday act of fragrance making into a slower and more intentional experience.

Light and shadow are equally important to the spatial language of Tide. Subdued lighting, reflective surfaces and a restrained material palette reduce visual dominance and heighten awareness of subtler sensory conditions. Rather than designing an interior that is simply observed, the project considers how interior design can be entered, inhabited and remembered through the body.

Essentially, Tide explores interior design as a form of multisensory choreography, using scent, water, light, materiality and ritual to offer an alternative rhythm within the intensity of the city. It proposes that moments of care, restoration and stillness can become part of everyday urban life rather than something experienced only by escaping it.