Space lost, space found—a psychodynamic perspective on spaces, places, architecture, and furniture inside and around us

Abstract

This article presents some considerations and perspectives on the issue of how to deal with rooms, spaces, places, and bodies informed by psychodynamic theory and practice. The armchair and the famous couch in the classic psychoanalytic arrangement, and the serious occupation with chairs in group relations and group analysis (circles and spirals, all the chairs of the same kind, no special chair for the group convenor) indicate that space and furniture are important. The reluctance to experiment with space and settings may signify that important areas may need to be investigated. This article presents a number of basic concepts that we apply and further develop to capture the impact of space and design on social and organisational dynamics in the network society and the interplay between conscious and unconscious motives in space and design: container; projective space; presenting oneself; staging and being staged; destruction and creativity; the making of culture and history and the house; the senses; and the organisation of memory.