Gaston Bachelard, Tadao Andō. Réflexions autour de la portée éco-architecturale d’une poétique de l’espace

Abstract

This article offers a comparative reading of Gaston Bachelard’s poetics and the architectural work of Tadao Andō, aiming to reflect on the eco-architectural scope of The Poetics of Space, 1957. Although Andō only briefly mentions Bachelard, significant affinities emerge between their respective approaches. The Japanese architect articulates the formal, material, and dynamic dimensions of imagination, using essential geometric forms and compact materials (notably concrete), in a dialogue with the genius loci–conceived as a field of invisible elemental forces. This tension gives rise to a poetic recreation of place: a supernature resonating with human sensitivity. This eco-architectural imagination is structured by two poles: a geo-pathic aspect, in unison with nature, and a geo-polemic one, rooted in dynamic and fruitful confrontation. Architecture thus becomes a space of anthropo-cosmic conflict, engaging the subject in affective, motor, and oneiric dimensions. This dynamic manifests in the creation of “fundamental emotional spaces,” in the emphasis on verticality and labyrinthine paths, and in the concrete integration of natural elements (light, wind, water). The article ultimately suggests that Andō’s work opens a possible way to transcend dichotomies between preservation-based and control-based ecologies, and between abstraction and concreteness. It embodies a dynamic aesthetic that echoes Bachelard’s concept of rêverie as a blend of will and matter. Rather than fixing nature, architecture reveals and intensifies its living tensions, creating a space that is both poetic and eco-sensitive.