Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives
Buildings shape our identity and sense of self in profound ways that are not always evident to architects and town planners, or even to those who think they are intimately familiar with the buildings they inhabit. Architecture and the Mimetic Self provides a useful theoretical guide to our unconscious behaviour in relation to buildings, and explains both how and why we are drawn to specific elements and features of architectural design. It reveals how even the most uninspiring of buildings can be modified to meet our unconscious expectations and requirements of them—and, by the same token, it explores the repercussions for our wellbeing when buildings fail to do so.

Criteria for effective architectural design have for a long time been grounded in utilitarian and aesthetic principles of function, efficiency, cost, and visual impact. Although these are important considerations, they often fail to meet the fundamental needs of those who inhabit and use buildings. Misconceptions are rife, not least because our responses to architecture are often difficult to measure, and are in large part unconscious. By bridging psychoanalytic thought and architectural theory, Architecture and the Mimetic Self frees the former from its preoccupations with interpersonal human relations to address the vital relationships that we establish with our nonhuman environments.

In addition to providing a guide to the unconscious behaviours that are most relevant for evaluating architectural design, this book explains how our relationships with the built environment inform a more expansive and useful psychoanalytic theory of human relationship and identity. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists, architects, and all who are interested in the overlaps of psychology, architecture, and the built environment.

1127290589
Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives
Buildings shape our identity and sense of self in profound ways that are not always evident to architects and town planners, or even to those who think they are intimately familiar with the buildings they inhabit. Architecture and the Mimetic Self provides a useful theoretical guide to our unconscious behaviour in relation to buildings, and explains both how and why we are drawn to specific elements and features of architectural design. It reveals how even the most uninspiring of buildings can be modified to meet our unconscious expectations and requirements of them—and, by the same token, it explores the repercussions for our wellbeing when buildings fail to do so.

Criteria for effective architectural design have for a long time been grounded in utilitarian and aesthetic principles of function, efficiency, cost, and visual impact. Although these are important considerations, they often fail to meet the fundamental needs of those who inhabit and use buildings. Misconceptions are rife, not least because our responses to architecture are often difficult to measure, and are in large part unconscious. By bridging psychoanalytic thought and architectural theory, Architecture and the Mimetic Self frees the former from its preoccupations with interpersonal human relations to address the vital relationships that we establish with our nonhuman environments.

In addition to providing a guide to the unconscious behaviours that are most relevant for evaluating architectural design, this book explains how our relationships with the built environment inform a more expansive and useful psychoanalytic theory of human relationship and identity. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists, architects, and all who are interested in the overlaps of psychology, architecture, and the built environment.

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Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives

Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives

by Lucy Huskinson
Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives
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Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives

Architecture and the Mimetic Self: A Psychoanalytic Study of How Buildings Make and Break Our Lives

by Lucy Huskinson

Overview

Buildings shape our identity and sense of self in profound ways that are not always evident to architects and town planners, or even to those who think they are intimately familiar with the buildings they inhabit. Architecture and the Mimetic Self provides a useful theoretical guide to our unconscious behaviour in relation to buildings, and explains both how and why we are drawn to specific elements and features of architectural design. It reveals how even the most uninspiring of buildings can be modified to meet our unconscious expectations and requirements of them—and, by the same token, it explores the repercussions for our wellbeing when buildings fail to do so.

Criteria for effective architectural design have for a long time been grounded in utilitarian and aesthetic principles of function, efficiency, cost, and visual impact. Although these are important considerations, they often fail to meet the fundamental needs of those who inhabit and use buildings. Misconceptions are rife, not least because our responses to architecture are often difficult to measure, and are in large part unconscious. By bridging psychoanalytic thought and architectural theory, Architecture and the Mimetic Self frees the former from its preoccupations with interpersonal human relations to address the vital relationships that we establish with our nonhuman environments.

In addition to providing a guide to the unconscious behaviours that are most relevant for evaluating architectural design, this book explains how our relationships with the built environment inform a more expansive and useful psychoanalytic theory of human relationship and identity. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and analytical psychologists, architects, and all who are interested in the overlaps of psychology, architecture, and the built environment.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780415693035
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Publication date: 02/14/2018
Pages: 266
Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Lucy Huskinson, Ph.D, is Senior Lecturer in the School of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences at Bangor University, UK. She is author and editor of various books and articles on philosophy, psychoanalysis, and the built environment, and co Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Jungian Studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of figures

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: BUILDINGS DESIGN US AS MUCH AS WE THEM

CHAPTER TWO ARCHITECTURAL BLUEPRINTS OF PSYCHE

CHAPTER THREE THE ARCHITECTURAL EVENT: BUILDINGS AS EVENTS THAT DISCLOSE OUR BEING

CHAPTER FOUR THE BODY’S ROLE IN THE ARCHITECTURAL EVENT: FORTIFICATION AND CONTAINMENT

CHAPTER FIVE USING ARCHITECTURE TO THINK OURSELVES INTO BEING:
BUILDINGS AS STOREHOUSES OF UNCONSCIOUS THOUGHT

CHAPTER SIX THE SELF THAT IS DISCLOSED THROUGH ARCHITECTURE

CHAPTER SEVEN CONCLUSION: ARCHITECTURE THAT CAPTURES THE IMAGINATION: DESIGNING AND RESPONDING TO EVOCATIVE ARCHITECTURE

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