The cellar, writes the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, “is first and foremost the dark entity of the house, the one that partakes of subterranean forces. When we dream there, we are in harmony with the irrationality of the depths.”
The cellar, writes the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, “is first and foremost the dark entity of the house, the one that partakes of subterranean forces. When we dream there, we are in harmony with the irrationality of the depths.”
Bachelard’s beautiful book The Poetics of Space, a keystone of phenomenology, proposes the house as a representation of both mind and body, its feet firmly on the ground, its roof aspiring to the verticality of man against the horizontality of the landscape. Thus, the attic is seen as the space of reflection: “Up near the roof,” he writes, “all our thoughts are clear.” It is the tower, reaching for the clouds while protecting the inhabitants from them. FT
4 Comments
This is a pretty great read. The beginning especially is a very beautiful look into the depths of emotion created by the spaces we live in and inhabit. I definitely see this in my own life, taking on different moods depending on what room I'm in, and seeking out spaces depending on my mood...
What a lovely article, but how odd that it's published in... The Financial Times? Are we trying to get the financiers to think about ethereal things? Interesting.
elle, the saturday FT is chock full of great art and leisure pieces.
maybe this could lead to a slew of new design commissions from bankers?
;]
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