Articulations between Winnicott and Bachelard

home as a symbol of trust

Abstract

Through an articulation between phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and architecture, we will develop a study about the house as a symbol of trust and, thus, as an instrument that facilitates the emotional development of the human being. Our research aims to demonstrate to what extent the work of the English pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Woods Winnicott on the environment, articulated with the poetics of Gaston Bachelard, can enrich the theoretical bases of architecture and interior design. According to Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theory, trust in the mother-environment is essential for the baby to feel existing and, later, to inhabit the shared reality. The feeling of trust guarantees the bases so that the child can advance in the psychic process of forming an autonomous self and feel safe to inhabit the shared reality. It is only from this atmosphere of trust that the child can feel able to get in touch with the world and, later, carry out his/her first playful interactions, that is, playing, which in adult life manifests itself in a cultural experience. In the same vein, the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard considers that the house symbolizes security and protection, acting as guardians of our identity. Therefore, the house is an element that guarantees stability, being a product of the very feeling of shelter, comfort, and security.