Otto Friedrich Bollnow (1903-1991) was an influential figure of the human science movement in education in Germany whose work can be placed within and between the fields of existentialism and phenomenology. He is the author of 38 books and over 300 articles, almost none of which have been translated into English.

Human space is an English translation of one of the most comprehensive studies of space as we experience it. Since it was published in Germany in 1963, Bollnow’s text has become a key reading in architecture, anthropology, and philosophy. In 2004 the German edition was issued in its tenth impression. The book is serious academic research and something more – showing a great sensitivity to the near and the everyday. The text is enlivened and illustrated with many quotations, principally from German and English literature. Our edition is translated by Christine Shuttleworth and has an introduction by Joseph Kohlmaier, who places the work in its context of philosophical and architectural discussion.