Confabulations : Storytelling in Architecture

Confabulation is a drawing together through storytelling. Fundamental to our perception, memory, and thought is the way we join fractured experiences to construct a narrative. Confabulations: Storytelling in Architecture weaves together poetic ideas, objects, and events and returns you to everyday experiences of life through juxtapositions with dreams, fantasies, and hypotheticals. It follows the intellectual and creative framework of architectural cosmopoesis developed and practiced by the distinguished thinker, architect, and professor Dr. Marco Frascari, who thought deeply about the role of storytelling in architecture. Bringing together a collection of 24 essays from a diverse and respected group of scholars, this book presents the convergence of architecture and storytelling across a broad temporal, geographic, and cultural range. Beginning with an introduction framing the topic, the book is organized along a continuous thread structured around four key areas: architecture of stories, stories of architecture, stories of theory and practice of stories. Beautifully illustrated throughout and including a 64-page full colour section, Confabulations is an insightful investigation into architectural narratives. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of figures List of plates List of contributors Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction: homo fabula Part I: Architecture of stories Chapter 1: Glass and clay: Proust and Gallé Chapter 2: The fabulous ox in Fengshui’s fabrication of site Chapter 3: The “uncharted tides:” a literary map of Saint Petersburg Chapter 4: Macaronically speaking Chapter 5: Il Mantecato: an architectural course served at the Frascaridonosor’s Tavern of Crossed Destinies Part II: Stories of architecture Chapter 6: Buildings remember Chapter 7: Object talks: confabulation of dwelling space in the texts of Kamo no Chōmei and Wajirō Kon Chapter 8: Suspended ceiling stories: navigating the cosmo-technologies of hospital ceilings Chapter 9: Saul Steinberg’s stories of dor Chapter 10: The enlightening radiance of shadows Chapter 11: Architecture sub rosa: another tell-tale detail, with confabulations and digressions Part III: Stories of theory Chapter 12: Language and architectural meaning Chapter 13: Walls of gender Chapter 14: Architecture’s two bodies Chapter 15: Camillo Sitte’s winged snail: festina lente and escargot Chapter 16: Strange tales of architectural evolution Chapter 17: Dialetti architettonici: storytelling in the vernacular Chapter 18: Miming a manner of architectural theory: Eudaimonia—A Pantomime Dream Play Part IV: Practice of stories Chapter 19: Linear stories in Carlo Scarpa’s architectural drawings Chapter 20: In medias res: Michelangelo’s mural drawings at San Lorenzo Chapter 21: The function of fiction in fabrication: Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, the Italian confabulator Chapter 22: The Laughing Girls Chapter 23: Mi punge vagezza, ovvero i misteri del mestiere Chapter 24: Confabulatores Nocturni Index Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of plates -- List of contributors -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: homo fabula -- Part I Architecture of stories -- 1 Glass and clay: Proust and Gallé -- 2 The fabulous ox in Fengshui's fabrication of site -- 3 The "uncharted tides:" a literary map of Saint Petersburg -- 4 Macaronically speaking -- 5 Il Mantecato: an architectural course served at the Frascaridonosor's Tavern of Crossed Destinies -- Part II Stories of architecture -- 6 Buildings remember -- 7 Object talks: confabulation of dwelling space in the texts of Kamo no Chōmei and Wajirō Kon -- 8 Suspended ceiling stories: navigating the cosmo-technologies of hospital ceilings -- 9 Saul Steinberg's stories of dor -- 10 The enlightening radiance of shadows -- 11 Architecture sub rosa: another tell-tale detail, with confabulations and digressions -- Part III Stories of theory -- 12 Language and architectural meaning -- 13 Walls of gender -- 14 Architecture's two bodies -- 15 Camillo Sitte's winged snail: festina lente and escargot -- 16 Strange tales of architectural evolution -- 17 Dialetti architettonici: storytelling in the vernacular -- 18 Miming a manner of architectural theory: Eudaimonia-A Pantomime Dream Play -- Part IV Practice of stories -- 19 Linear stories in Carlo Scarpa's architectural drawings -- 20 In medias res: Michelangelo's mural drawings at San Lorenzo -- 21 The function of fiction in fabrication: Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, the Italian confabulator -- 22 The Laughing Girls -- 23 Mi punge vagezza, ovvero i misteri del mestiere -- 24 Confabulatores Nocturni -- Index -- Plates Paul Emmons Is A Registered Architect And Professor At The Washington-alexandria Architecture Center Of Virginia Tech Where He Directs The Phd Program In Architecture + Design Research. Marcia F Feuerstein Is An Architect And Associate Professor At The Washington Alexandria Architecture Center Of Virginia Tech. Her Research Investigates Links Between Theory, Practice And Performance In Architecture And She Studied At Tufts University, The University At Buffalo And University Of Pennsylvania, Where She Also Received A Phd In Architecture. Carolina Dayer Is An Architect In Her Native Country Argentina And Recently Received Her Phd Degree From Washington Alexandria Architecture Center Of Virginia Tech. She Currently Teaches At Aarhus School Of Architecture In Denmark. Her Research And Personal Practice Focuses On Multivalent Forms Of Architectural Drawing. This book presents the convergence of architecture and storytelling across a broad temporal, geographic and cultural range. It follows the intellectual and creative framework of architectural cosmopoesis developed and practiced by Dr. Marco Frascari, who thought deeply about the role of storytelling in architecture.