Making Invisible Change Felt: VR and Olfaction for Translating Corrosion

Communicating slow, invisible environmental processes such as corrosion remains challenging in public contexts. This paper explores how smell can function as a creative design material within a multisensory VR experience for science communication. Using a Research-through-Design (RtD) approach, we developed and iteratively refined a five-minute VR experience across co-design, prototyping, and public deployment. Olfaction was introduced as an embodied layer to translate imperceptible chemical processes into experiential form. Findings from a festival deployment with 73 participants show that smell enhanced immersion and memorability for some users, but was perceived inconsistently and often amplified already salient visual moments rather than directing attention toward underlying processes. We characterise smell as an “unruly material” that resists precise control due to variability in perception, diffusion, and context. We contribute an RtD account of multisensory VR design, and outline implications for designing with olfaction in heterogeneous, public settings for science communication.