"Poetics of Space" Author: [France] Gaston Bachelard Original title: La Poétique de l'Espace

The French version of "Poetics of Space" was published in 1957. In the atmosphere of late modernist architectural culture that was almost suffocating, phenomenology and the pursuit of symbolic meaning injected rich nutrients into architecture. The appearance of this book in such a period naturally aroused many profound imaginations of architecture.

Bachelard conducted a systematic analysis of beloved spaces, that is, place analysis. Although he focused on the psychological dynamics of literary images, architects believe that his spatial imagination can just counter scientific positivism and abstract formalism, and serve as an alternative proposal to the emerging structuralism. Norberg-Schulz, an important scholar of architectural phenomenology, listed "Poetics of Space" alongside Heidegger's "Being and Time", "Thoughts on Dwelling" and Merleau-Ponty's "Phenomenology of Perception" as must-read classics in architecture in his book "Existential Space and Architecture".

In the book "Poetics of Space", Bachelard believes that space is not a container filled with objects, but the residence of human consciousness. He said: "In this dynamic confrontation between the house and the universe, we are far away from any simple geometric reference framework. The house we experience is not a dull box. The space that has been inhabited has actually surpassed the geometric space." Therefore, what we should be concerned about is not the analysis of the form of the house or whether it is comfortable or not; in other words, architecture is the poetics of dwelling.

The most wonderful part of the book is the description and imagination of intimate space. He points out that home is a person's corner of the world, sheltering daydreams and protecting dreamers. The image of home reflects the image of intimacy, loneliness and passion. We are in the home, and the home is in us. We construct the home poetically, and the home also structures us spiritually.

Gaston Bachelard (1884-1962) was an important French philosopher of science, literary critic and poet in the 20th century. He is considered the founder of the French new scientific epistemology. His philosophical thoughts have profoundly influenced many French philosophers, and his epistemology is also widely respected around the world.