Re-telling architecture: an adventure in wonderland

Architecture is rooted in stories. Storytelling in architecture, therefore, offers

the architect a way of instilling shared meaning in buildings, public buildings in

particular. Part I of this thesis explores significant examples in the history and theory of

storytelling as a design method in the making of meaningful inhabitation. Because this

thesis culminates in alibrary design, concurrent research in library planning serves as a

framework for the testing of these examples. In the search to elucidate an architecture

guided by storytelling, Part II explores the concept of the “architectural quote” or the

"citing" of architecture, and specifically, of Henri Labrouste’s Sainte-Genevieve Library

in Paris, as a design strategy. Finally, this section aims to weave a curious story about an

architectural adventure based on the re-telling of a classic children's tale — Lewis

Carroll's (Charles L. Dodgson) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). This re-telling

drives the design of a proposed new Library for Children and Storytelling in the city of

Toronto.