Fine Fragrance and Scent in Buildings

What your building smells like, and why it matters

A guide for building owners and occupiers: what fine fragrance is, how scents differ, how they are matched to a building and its brand, and how they shape the way people feel about a property and its value.

What is fine fragrance?
Fine fragrance bottles and reflections

Start here

Read in order, these six guides explain why the scent of a building is a decision about its quality.

1. What is fine fragrance?

The perfumer’s art, and why it is different from air care.

Fine fragrance bottles and reflections
What is fine fragrance

2. Fine vs functional fragrance

Why so many commercial buildings smell basic.

Perfumer's fragrance bottles
Fine vs functional fragrance

3. Scent tiers

Functional, catalogue and fine fragrance, and what each says about a building.

Premium marble lobby
Scent tiers explained

4. Top, heart and base notes

How a scent is experienced in layers, from arrival to lasting backdrop.

Perfumer blending fragrance materials
Top, heart and base notes

5. Cross-modal congruence

Matching scent to a building’s materials, light and brand.

Marble and timber reception lobby
Cross-modal congruence

6. Scent and brand story

How a composition tells a building’s story.

Raffles Place towers above the historic Singapore River
Scent and brand story

How scent shapes people and value

The effect of scent on a building, from behaviour to perceived value.

Behaviour

How scent influences behaviour in a building.

Value

How scent signals quality and value to tenants and visitors.

Go deeper

Families, process, delivery and safety.
Signature scent detail

Fragrance families

Composition

“Where each family sits in a composition, and how they pair.”
“From olfactory brief to a scent created for one client.”
“How the whole fragrance reaches every part of a space.”
“Choosing the right delivery for each zone.”
“IFRA standards as standard, California-compliant on request, for fine fragrance used responsibly in occupied buildings.”
“The term explained, and what good ambient scenting looks like.”