We find ourselves experiencing in words, on the inside of words, secret movements of our own. Like friendship, words sometimes swell, at the dreamer’s will, in the loop of a syllable. While in other words, everything is calm, tight. Words—I often imagine this—are little houses, each with its cellar and garret. To go upstairs in the word house is to withdraw, step by step; while to go down to the cellar is to dream, it is losing oneself in the distant corridors of an obscure etymology, looking for treasures that cannot be found in words.

We find ourselves experiencing in words, on the inside of words, secret movements of our own. Like friendship, words sometimes swell, at the dreamer’s will, in the loop of a syllable. While in other words, everything is calm, tight. Words—I often imagine this—are little houses, each with its cellar and garret. To go upstairs in the word house is to withdraw, step by step; while to go down to the cellar is to dream, it is losing oneself in the distant corridors of an obscure etymology, looking for treasures that cannot be found in words.

Here French architect and design theorist Gaston Bachelard elucidated something profound about architectural design. He did so by phenomenologically incorporating our lived experience rather than just focusing on the objective geometrical space. Bachelard transformed his architectural understanding into a poetic phenomena. He achieved this by mapping out the space hidden within our very lived experience. He firmly believed that no actual space could fully satisfy the poetic imagination. Instead, he motivated his readers to design as well as they possibly could to accommodate people, all while acknowledging that their task is never truly over. He also keenly observed that contemporary architects, in our modern era, tend to lean towards originalist thinking. That is, they have the idea of using classical forms, such as the pillar and arc, to derive further and more evolved abstractions for use as the building blocks for architectural sites. However, Bachelard accused this school of thought of eschewing lived experience in favor of abstraction. He pointed to examples of bleak, modernist “boxes” that alienate people from the beauty of aesthetic form and, consequently, from their own houses, distracting them with sophisticated symbolism.



He passionately argued that a house that is lived in is never an inert box. He rather wanted us to go back to the primordial understanding of space and shelters. If we were to question nowadays—What is a house? People would easily answer that it is somewhere we live for protection. But is it only that? If we were to press them for further exploration, it might seem like an idiotic act on our part.



But Bachelard wanted this very behavior of theirs regarding the house to be set aside for a moment. He wanted us to imagine, yes, imagine the beauty of its (house) form. Imagine how such an architectural design of a house could come into being? For him, every place, even the nook and crannies of our home, holds something intimate and has a poetic relationship with us. It is not all just an artificial thing. It has something human at its very core.



At the end, Bachelard thus motivates his readers, who are phenomenological thinkers and architectural designers, to reject the thoughtless forging ahead of classical forms for the sake of sophistication. Instead, he urges them to examine the lived space as a critically important artifact of, and instrument for, the future of human thought.

Odd bedfellows, I suppose, but in The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard marries philosophy to poetry. He quotes all manner of poetic lines to support his arguments.

For the most part, the poetry he cites may not be that great. However, in his defense, he couldn't just scan the poetry world for great lines. He had to look for pieces that support his philosophical feints in the following chaptered categories:

1. The House from Cellar to Garret (The Significance of the Hut)
2. House and Universe
3. Drawers, Chests, and Wardrobes
4. Shells
5. Corners
6. Miniature
7. Intimate Immensity
8. The Dialectics of Outside and Inside
9. The Phenomenology of Roundness.

See what I mean? It's all about space. Starting with the one we all go back to in our daydreams - our childhood homes. For lucky ones like me, it's a refuge of happiness, a place I visit not only in daydreams but also in many nighttime ones. For others, who perhaps had unpleasant childhoods, the house of their dreams undergoes reconstruction, post and beam, until the daydream is as they like it (or as it should have been).

Some quotes work out nicely. Rilke is often cited. Here's one I kind of liked:

"Oh night without objects. Oh window muffled on the outside, oh, doors carefully closed; customs that have come down from times long past, transmitted, verified, never entirely understood. Oh silence in the stairwell, silence in the adjoining rooms, silence up there, on the ceiling. Oh mother, oh one and only you, who faced all this silence, when I was a child."

Make your way through all the "oh's" and you'll see there's something to this, especially with the introduction of the mother who, only now, the speaker realizes saw the gentle childhood home in different ways.

Thoughtful, deep, slow trekking, but worthwhile. I'd stop for weird things and say, "Hmn. That's true," like when he talked about bird nests and how a tree with a nest was set apart in our minds - not just any tree, but a tree more special than all the others in our yard because it had been selected (blessed) by birds who constantly returned to it, just like we return to childhood homes in our daydreams.

This exploration of space through the lens of philosophy and poetry is a unique and engaging journey that makes us think about the spaces we inhabit and the memories and emotions associated with them.

I finally finished it.

Thanks to Bachelard for almost helping me with my essay, but then disappointing me at the last minute.

It was quite a frustrating experience. At first, I thought Bachelard was going to be a great resource and provide me with valuable insights and ideas for my essay.

I was really looking forward to seeing how his work could enhance my writing.

However, as I got closer to the deadline, I realized that Bachelard's ideas didn't quite fit with what I was trying to achieve.

It was a bit of a letdown, especially since I had put so much hope in his assistance.

Nevertheless, I managed to pull through and complete my essay on my own.

Although it was a challenging process, I learned a lot from it and I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish.

Maybe next time, I'll be more careful when choosing resources to help me with my writing.

The world is not simply a static noun; rather, it can be seen as a dynamic adjective. It constantly modifies and shapes our experiences and perceptions. One could even take this a step further and argue that the world is more like an adverb, adding nuance and movement to the verbs of our lives. In this book, nothing seems to follow a traditional sense of logic. However, this is not a pedantic kind of nonsense. Instead, it is a whimsical and playful form of absurdity that challenges our preconceived notions and invites us to look at the world from a different perspective. It is through this exploration of the unexpected and the illogical that we can gain a deeper understanding of the true nature of the world around us.

A creative and highly focused study on intimate spaces. I take pleasure in this type of philosophical imagining that lies between poetry, philosophy, physics, free imagination, and Bakhtin. In my opinion, it is essential reading for anyone who is passionate about architecture and also for artists. Because whatever an artist has is from imagination, and the raw materials of imagination are also material elements and things. This book can be a wonderful and repeatedly read book for anyone who wants to develop their imagination or takes pleasure in the movement of imagination and, in other words, in daydreaming.

It offers a unique perspective that combines various disciplines and invites the reader to explore the boundaries of their own creativity. The author's ability to blend different concepts and ideas creates a rich and engaging reading experience.

Whether you are an architect looking for inspiration, an artist seeking to expand your creative horizons, or simply someone who enjoys the power of imagination, this book has something to offer. It challenges you to think differently and see the world from a new perspective, opening up a world of possibilities and opportunities for growth and discovery.

This book is so poetic that you may cry if you read it in an emotional time. It was really a great opportunity to read it for my master's thesis. However, I was disappointed that it was published by İthaki. I think İthaki should leave the non-fiction works to the appropriate publishers. At the very least, in the footnotes of the quoted texts, only the originals were given, and I had to constantly check whether there was a Turkish translation. I can't say that I was satisfied with the translation either.

In conclusion, when I decided to read the philosophy of space, I was satisfied with the aesthetic and melancholic poetry and I am very happy. ^^

I had never read a book that could explain and describe the inner pleasures within me, which have no external signs and calm my soul to such an extent. I feel that all the points of my soul have been understood through the text of Bachelard, and I have read something that always happens within me but I couldn't engage with these details in the whole process. Of course, Bachelard's aim is not just to describe a fantastic process that lands on the house. By examining the phenomenology of imagination in the poetry of poets and its connection with different points of the house, he wants to make the space in which we live present before us. My heart didn't want to finish the book. I wanted to prolong this space of eternal acquaintance that Bachelard has invited me to forever and see how poetic this philosopher of mine is.

It is not strange for me that I have a strange attraction to the house and feel homesick when I am away from it. Because there is a relationship between imagining and the house, and as Bachelard says: "The house is the haven of reverie. The house is the protector of the dreamer." And then when you enter the house and take refuge in your room because; "The cozy room is a matter of the imagination, and the imagination is the sum of all feelings."

I really don't know why I kept reading this text. It seems that there is an unknown force that attracts me, but at the same time, I have a strong aversion to it.

Every time I see the word "phenomenology", it makes me feel a sense of confusion and boredom. I have no interest in this field at all, and I don't understand why it is so important.

However, I still can't help but continue reading, maybe because I want to know more about it, or maybe because I hope to find some inspiration from it.

But no matter what the reason is, I really hope that I can get rid of this state as soon as possible and find something that really interests me.

Bachelard was truly a remarkable polymath. He started his career as a postman, yet through self-study, he mastered physics and chemistry. Eventually, he became a philosophy professor at the Sorbonne. His thinking was delightfully eclectic.

This book, which purports to be a work of philosophy, specifically of phenomenology, though its metaphysics has a greater debt to Bergson than to Husserl or Brentano, is actually best described as a profound meditation on poetry and the connection between language and private spaces.

The influence of Jung's psychoanalysis looms large over this work. However, Bachelard believes that psychoanalytical thought, with its rigid symbolism, pertains to the world of dreams, while rationalism can explain the world of waking thought. It is in reverie or daydream that he discovers the space for his phenomenology, vividly describing the faintly felt sensations of intimacy we have with the structures around us. There are numerous passages of lyrical beauty, such as when he describes the formation of a snail shell or meditates on a blade of grass. Bachelard attempts to transcend the inside/outside spatial distinction, cryptically paraphrasing Jaspers in the brief final chapter: "Dasein ist rund" (Being is round).

Bachelard's intention is to create a poetics of metaphysics, casting aside logical preconceptions and prioritizing experience, whether it's the attic, the nest, a blade of grass, or a forest. He sees in the poetic imagination the finest expression of this feeling and thus a worthy fulcrum for a new description of the environment. Sadly, the inherent subjectivity of such an endeavor makes it a difficult, often unrewarding read.

Here's a picture of the author looking totally badass:

Gosh…

Here is a book that gives off the same vibes as that Disneyland ride, Journey into Inner Space. It truly split me open in a sense. I found myself completely engrossed and couldn't stop reading, even though it took a bit longer to fully digest.

This remarkable book is about architecture, yet it's for those who don't really intend to apply anything they learn to the field of architecture. It's also a philosophy book that doesn't really make any bold philosophical claims. And surprisingly, it's even psychoanalysis for people who hate Freud.

Despite its seemingly paradoxical nature, I absolutely loved it <3. It offers a unique perspective and a captivating exploration that transcends traditional boundaries. It makes you think and feel in ways you might not have expected, and that's what makes it so special.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thought-provoking and engaging read that will take them on an unexpected journey.

One of the most exquisitely written nonfiction books I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It is truly a thing of beauty, incredibly gorgeous, gentle, and radiantly kind and hopeful. The way it approaches space and the various ways we utilize it is filled with such boundless joy, wonder, and a rich imagination that it simply takes one's breath away. I found myself completely enraptured while reading it, unable to put it down. Each page was like a new adventure, filled with fascinating insights and a sense of awe-inspiring discovery. It made me look at space in a whole new light and appreciate the vastness and mystery that lies beyond our planet. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a love for learning, a sense of curiosity, and a desire to be inspired.

I've failed to explain Bachelard to so many people by now that I should know better. I should write some sort of meta-review/hymn/grocery list here, but I'm afraid. I'm afraid to wash the freaking hem of this book.

Probably the best thing I can say about The Poetics of Space is that, in thinking so hard about what makes a poetic image work, it really becomes more of a prose poem than a book of philosophy. Bachelard is attempting to understand the "happy mind" - the mind that makes itself a home everywhere, regardless of how hostile the environment may be. He refers to this as a phenomenology (as opposed to psychology's preoccupation with neurosis, damage, the "unhappy mind"), also "daydreaming," "reverie." The terms might get conflated, perhaps due to the translation (which is beautiful), but the demonstrations are so powerful and accurate that you're left with this burst of energy. It's as if the world were a car you'd been sitting in on a hot day in the Safeway parking lot. Of course, you're wet from swimming, so there's the smell of a wet seat, your crotch itches, there's a homeless person collecting plastic bags by the cart-dispenser, and a dog is staring at you from three cars over. Yeah, it's hot as hell, and then suddenly your mom comes back, and the car starts moving with the windows down, and it's FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC.

Talking about what you learned from this book is difficult, partly because that initial transfer of energy and excitement is the main thing. But like Claude Levi-Strauss or Rene Girard, Bachelard also leaves you with a form, a process that you can use to think about how you think. He makes you more conscious not just of your mind but also of your mind's movement and your mind's happiness. And no matter how unhappy we are, our minds are all striving to be happy (happy meaning at times, unfortunately, unhappy, but then maybe the "happiness" Bachelard is discussing is only movement and life, the happiness of the seed).

This book is as domestic as Anna Karenina, as expansively accordion-like as Walden, and as razor-sharp as Candide. It could also be seen (again, like Girard), as one gigantic digression on Proust.