Rum och kropp, kropp och rum : Om att beröra och bli berörd av den byggda formen

Sammanfattning: This thesis is an exploration of body and space, respectively as well as of the interaction that occurs between the two. The study is mainly written within the discourse of embodiment and phenomenology, primarily building upon the works of Juhani Pallasmaa and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is depicted how various cultural and scientific perspectives shape different concepts and in turn, how the world is known. Using synergy by combining theories and observations from fields of research such as the history of ideas, cultural geography, and neuroscience enables new ways of defining and understanding space, place, and body. In such a context, architecture becomes a multimodal and multisensory phenomenon that shapes the body living within its rooms. In turn, the room is a portrayal of the human body considering the human being knows and becomes aware of the surroundings through the faculties of her body and mind; the body and the world are integrated entities. Also drawing upon evolutionary evidence makes a clear image of the human being’s spatial predispositions and preferences become salient. Thus the built space is an extension of a holistically constituted body, a body that embraces several types of intellect. In all, this thesis illustrates that space and place rather than being a mere physical construct are transactional structures made up of affordances and possibilities for living.