The World as Home—Home as a World: On the Philosophy of Architecture and Design

Witold M. NOWAK

Abstract

The article considers selected issues from the field of the philosophy of architecture and design and attempts to scrutinize the problem of what the human home (as opposed to ‘house’) is, which, despite its significance, has only seldom been placed at the center of philosophical deliberations. While tackling the topic, the author brings up the ideas advanced by Martin Buber, Ulrich Schrade, and Bogusław Wolniewicz. According to Buber, ages of settledness and homelessness are intertwined in history. However, in any epoch, one’s home and its interior may either contribute to one’s balanced psyche or undermine one’s sense of ontological security. The concept of home as a secure place in a hostile world was introduced by the Puritans as part of their affirmation of ordinary life. Alongside the types of interior design that enhance man’s rootedness in the world, there are those that remove any reference to the past or any symbolic content from the spaces of human life. Instances of the latter can be seen in the non-places characteristic of the modern world, which are designed in an uncharacteristic way, with a view to their pure functionality, as well as in interiors whose creators followed the rules of the minimalist aesthetic. Their opposites are interiors which, by embodying a theater of memory, may become inspirational to their occupants. An outstanding example of the latter is the house of the writer Mario Praz in Rome.