Phenomenology, How does it relate to interior design?

In the simplest of terms, phenomenology is the philosophical study of lived human experience. It takes into account the reliability and unreliability of one's perceptions and personal accounts, relating them to one another's; ultimately blurring the distinction between what is true and what is not. The idea that people live their lives based on others' experience and consequently base theirs on that suggests that there is no real thing as a truly unique experience; however I believe that design can evoke unanimous as well as individual feelings and emotions within different people and therefore is an integral aspect that should be central to the design. The link between phenomenology and interior space can be defined by Emily Pellicano, who suggested that ‘The human body is also a boundless field of intangible energy manifested as mind, spirit, personality and soul… interior architecture and design, as disciplines have long wrestled with the translation and representation of… the subjective experience of space’.

Influential people within this topic of discussion are Plato, Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Plato demonstrated phenomenology as a place between being and nonbeing, with the analogy of Plato’s cave symbolically representing contrasting reality vs our interpretations of it. This suggests that what is true and what is not is ultimately down to one’s perception, translating to the modern day ‘Fake News’ theory. Alternatively, Husserl’s take on phenomenology was that the ‘structure of mental reference is not essentially related to transcendent entities’ (Tassone, B. 2017). Heidegger Was critical of Husserl’s take and initially created the term ‘Dasein’ defining the situated meaning of a human in the world. 

What I found interesting from this research was the multiple different and contrasting ideologies that propose new ways of thinking about the human experience. Taking this vast concept into account, my consideration towards the human experience can be more accurately manifested into my design work, solidifying the connection between body and interior space.

References:

Academic Educational Materials. (2016, November 22). Understanding Phenomenology. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5geMLe5tbM&t=3s 

Tassone, B. (2017). The relevance of Husserl’s phenomenological exploration of interiority to contemporary epistemology. Palgrave Commun 3, 17066. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.66 

Pellicano, E. (2021), M.Arch, Psychedelic strategies; Alternative Phenomenologies, Translations, and Representations of The Human Body in Relation to Interior Space.’, Marywood University, USA