Psychedelic Strategies; Alternative Phenomenologies, Translations, and Representations of the Human Body in Relation to Interior Space

With growing legalization of marijuana and decriminalization of psilocybin, psychedelics are again being rigorously studied at major universities. Clinical accounts describe a "dissolution of the self" that blurs the boundary between self and universe, creating a subjective-objective duality. This paper examines those accounts to identify psychedelic strategies that suggest new ways of representing the human body in relation to interior space, integrating the self with built and natural environments. These strategies may offer designers tools for creating more socially, politically, and environmentally conscious interior spaces, potentially leading to an alternative phenomenology of the interior.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In the wake of a turning tide on the legalization of medicinal and recreational marijuana, and with the recent decriminalization of psilocybin in Denver, a psychedelic renaissance may too be on the horizon. Psychedelics have again become the subject of rigorous study at institutions such as Yale, UCLA, NYU, and Johns Hopkins. Many clinical accounts underscore the psychedelic experience with a “dissolution of the self” as an entity separate from the universe, producing a subjective–objective duality. By delving into clinical accounts of altered states of consciousness, this paper will identify potential “psychedelic strategies” which suggest alternative modes of translation and representation of the human body in relation to interior space, integrating the self with the built and natural environment, ultimately offering designers powerful tools to generate more socially, politically, and environmentally conscious interior futures, perhaps an alternate phenomenology of the interior.