Sensing Nature

The rise of urbanisation has reduced connection with nature and physical interaction, both crucial for well-being and pro-environmental behavior. Sensing Nature is a multisensory virtual reality installation that aims to energize and nourish the spirit by reimagining the natural world as a playful, immersive experience. Users create a sensory journey by interacting with a haptic tree and exploring real-world fabrics and textures. Each touch triggers a transformation of the virtual tree, blending blooming virtual flowers, nature-inspired spatial sounds, and physical vibrations for a unique immersive experience. This project investigated multisensory interaction in virtual reality’ s impacts on people's feelings and attitude to nature, addressing the lack of direct touch-based haptic interactions in VR by incorporating active and passive haptic feedback. Qualitative studies shown that multisensory interactions in virtual reality induce healing effects, relaxation and shift attitudes towards nature, demonstrating sensing nature's potential application for relaxation and pro- environmental attitudes.