ABOUT

A design-led immersive studio based in Scotland. Founded by an architect.

Built around a simple belief, every place holds a story worth feeling, not just reading about.

From forgotten corners to iconic landmarks, we work with heritage organisations, museums and councils to create experiences that change how people connect with the places they visit. Not through technology for its own sake, but through genuine care for the stories those places carry

A newspaper page featuring an article about a woman named Pooja Kataria, who turned her thesis into a city app. The page includes a photo of her sitting in a chair, and a colorful advertisement for SensCity walks at the lower right corner.

Pooja Katara trained as an architect at Glasgow School of Art, where she received the Chairman's Medal and specialised in Creative Urban Practices. She came to Glasgow fascinated by the way people discover and connect with places and started asking what it would take to make those moments more vivid, more personal, more lasting.

That question became a product. Then a studio. SENSEcity grew out of that original impulse and has since worked with museums, heritage organisations and councils across Scotland and the UK. Pooja has presented the work at SXSW and Slush, and SENSEcity has been supported by Innovate UK, Scottish EDGE and EIT Digital. She brings professional experience spanning India, Spain and the UK, and continues to be driven by the same thing that started it all: a belief that every place holds a story worth feeling.

Founder story

"We go beyond the brief because we care about the places we work in and the people who visit them. Work delivered with genuine care shows, and people feel it, even when they can't name it."

— Pooja Katara, Founder

HOW WE WORK

Five principles that shape every project.

01

Place first

The story of a place always comes before the technology. We start by understanding what a site means — to its history, its visitors, the community around it.

02

Design-led

We are a design studio that uses technology, not a technology company that does design. That distinction shapes every decision, from how a brief is interpreted to how an experience feels to use.

03

Playful when it counts

The best heritage experiences don't just inform — they delight. Learning and enjoyment are not opposites, and we bring a sense of play to every project that calls for it.

04

Accessible by design

Experiences that exclude people are experiences that fail. Accessibility is a consideration from the very first conversation, not a box to tick at the end.

05

Care over throughput

We take on work we believe in and treat every project as if it were our own. Going beyond the brief is not exceptional for us — it is how we work.

THE TEAM

The people behind the work.

A small studio. A trusted network of collaborators. Every project gets the full weight of our attention.

Pooja Katara

Creative Director

Architect and experience designer, trained at the Glasgow School of Art. Leads creative direction, client relationships and the vision behind every project. Her work has been presented at SXSW and Slush, and supported by Innovate UK and Scottish EDGE.

Melissa Sully

Visual Designer & Community Engagement

Brings visual rigour and genuine curiosity to every project. Leads community engagement, research and visual design, making sure the work connects with the people it's made for.

Anirudhan Iyengar

AR Technologist

Architect and experimental interaction designer based in Austria, with roots in Mumbai and a background from The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL. Anirudhan brings a speculative, boundary-pushing approach to SENSEcity's technical work, exploring what becomes possible when space and technology meet.

Our Awards & Milestones

  • Group of seven people in formal attire standing on stage holding awards at the 2019 Converge Awards event.

    We won the Creative Converge Awards which enabled us to grow the team.

  • Four men standing outdoors on a viewing platform with a scenic lake and mountains in the background. They are standing behind a metallic robot sculpture, with a sign indicating an assembly point nearby.

    We won the Creative Informatics Challenge Project for Historic Environment Scotland.

  • Three people standing outdoors in front of a historic stone castle, wearing black sweatshirts with 'SENSE' on them, smiling, with fallen leaves on the grass and a foggy sky.

    We won Innovate UK - Audience of the Future Award to further develop and test the Historiscope.

  • Group of seven young adults standing outdoors on a cloudy day in front of a hedge, smiling at the camera, with a statue or monument on the left side of the image.

    We were selected for the Creative Informatics Resident Entrepreneur Programme which helped us to make Historiscope market ready.

  • Three people standing in front of a screen with the 'Tech Nation' logo, smiling, in a conference or event setting.

    We were recognised as Tech Nation Rising Stars 5.0 Scotland Region winners!

  • A group of ten people standing on a stage, holding awards, in front of a large screen displaying the Scottish Edge logo and event details. Large 'EDGE20' letters are placed at the front of the stage.

    We won Scottish Edge Creative Edge Award 20’.

  • Two people, a woman and a man, standing at a booth during a conference or expo. The booth features a display labeled 'HistoriScope' with headphones, a monitor, and informational posters. The woman is smiling and wearing a maroon shirt with the company's logo, and the man is smiling and wearing a matching shirt and an orange lanyard. There is a large screen behind them showing a group of people in a discussion, and the booth has items related to augmented reality.

    We showcased the Historiscope at SXSW 2023 and met incredible artists, storytellers, and technologists from around the world and learned about the future of the XR industry.

  • Four people standing in a conference room in front of a display table with models of a building, two men and two women, all smiling, with chairs and banners in the background.

    We were one of the three chosen companies to collaborate with Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival and Digital Catapult on a pioneering programme called Heritage XR.

  • Six women standing on a stage in front of a white wall with a colorful geometric logo and text that says 'STAC filament.' The women are smiling and dressed in casual to business casual attire. There is audio equipment and a potted plant on the stage.

    We became a part of the third cohort of Smart Things Accelerator Centre (STAC) - Scotland's IoT accelerator program.

  • Logo of EIT Digital with European Union flag and text indicating co-funding by the European Union.

    We received funding from EIT Digital's 'Innovation Factory 2022'

Not just preserving the past. Come and see history through a new lens.