House As a Mirror of Self : Exploring the Deeper Meaning of Home

House as a Mirror of Self presents an unprecedented examination of our relationship to where we live, interwoven with compelling personal stories of the search for a place for the soul. Marcus takes us on a reverie of the special places of childhood—the forts we made and secret hiding places we had—to growing up and expressing ourselves in the homes of adulthood. She explores how the self-image is reflected in our homes/ power struggles in making a home together with a partner/ territory, control, and privacy at home/ self-image and location/ disruptions in the boding with home/ and beyond the house as ego to the call of the soul. As our culture is swept up in home improvement to the extent of having an entire TV network devoted to it, this book is essential for understanding why the surroundings that we call home make us feel the way we do. With this information we can embark on home improvement that truly makes room for our soul. House as a Mirror of Self is an unprecedented examination of our relationship to where we live, interwoven with compelling personal stories of the search for a place for the soul. It is not about architecture, or decorating styles, or real estate, but about the more subtle bonds of feeling we experience with dwellings past and present. At the base of this book is a very simple, yet frequently overlooked premise: notably, that as we change and grow throughout our lives, our psychological development is punctuated not only by meaningful emotional relationships with people, but also by close affective ties with a number of significant physical environments, beginning in childhood. She explores how the self-image is reflected in our homes; power struggles in making a home together with a partner; territory, control, and privacy at home; self-image and location; disruptions in the bonding with home; and beyond the "house as ego" to the call of the soul. As our culture becomes swept up in home improvement to the extent of having a TV network dedicated to it, this book is essential for understanding why the surroundings that we call home make us feel the way we do.-- Publisher description This is a book about people and their homes. It is not about architecture, or decorating styles, or real estate, but about the more subtle bonds of feeling we experience with dwellings past and present. By sharing 25 years of research, and interviews with more than 60 individuals, UC Berkeley Architecture Professor Clare Cooper Marcus reveals a groundbreaking theory of what our relationship to our home says about ourselves. House as a Mirror of Self clearly and powerfully illustrates that, beginning in childhood, as we change and grow throughout our lives, our psychological development is punctuated not only by relationships with people, but also by close, affective ties with our physical environment.

This ground-breaking book explores what our relationships to our houses reveal about ourselves. Featuring interviews with over 100 people, and their color drawings about their homes as well as photos of their actual homes, UC Berkeley professor Marcus tells us what our houses would say to us if they could talk. Color drawings. Photos.

Contents Acknowledgments Foreword 1 House as a Mirror of Self 2 The Special Places of Childhood 3 Growing Up: Self-Expression in the Homes of Adulthood 4 Always or Never Leaving Home 5 Becoming More Fully Ourselves: Evolving Self-Image as Reflected in Our Homes 6 Becoming Partners: Power Struggles in Making a Home Together 7 Living and Working: Territory, Control, and Privacy at Home 8 Where to Live? Self-Image and Location 9 The Lost House: Disruptions in the Bonding with Home 10 Bryond the House-as-Ego: The Call of the Soul Notes References __House as a Mirror of Self__