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Ikuro Shimizu

Architecture and Mind

Updated: May 15, 2021


Looking at houses in Southeast Asia, we often feel that the houses are not just substances, but mysterious beings that have various effects on people.


Anthropomorphization of the house is described in detail in R. Waterson's Living House, but the house is more or less "living", if not as much as the case of Sakddi in the book.


But, of course, this is not scientifically correct. There is no doubt that house is just a substance. The question is why the resident, that is, the human being, thinks that the house is alive.


As our human ancestors left Africa and continued their long journey, they respected nature and gained worship for it in the process of fighting against nature, which is hostile to humans. The origin of the house, the primitive hut, was originally thought to be like a shelter, but as we acquired objects and structures and created the environment, humans found a unique meaning in those objects.


The artificial environment, which includes everything that humans create, is not simply made by kneading the soil. The human mind, spirituality are projected there, and many of them may have been acquired from the way of seeing and feeling nature.


Thinking in this way, the environment, landscape, and material culture created by humans are closely linked to the human mind. It also connects with nature, which is the foundation of it. The mutual relationship of environment-human mind-thing is created then.



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