my experiential home

(Global Village Shelter)

Here is a description, by Juhani Pallasmaa, of how the imagination helps us to live.  He says it constructs virtually a home that will do, is a comfort, is fixed even when our lives are not.  It is tempting to think that a fixed life is best.  But, I like this neutral description.  The imagination works for stasis and the family keeps on moving.  The net effect is a life of adaptability and tension.

 

The image of home

Before I reached high-school age, my family moved several times due to my father’s job and, consequently, I lived in seven different houses during my childhood. In addition, I spent my childhood summers and most of the war in my farmer grandfather’s house. Regardless of having lived in eight houses, I have only had one experiential home in my childhood; my experiential home seems to have traveled with me and been constantly transformed to new physical shapes as we moved.

~Pallasmaa, Juhani. IDENTITY, INTIMACY AND DOMICILE, Notes on the phenomenology of home