Storytelling in Architecture

Throughout history people have used storytelling to leave remnants of their life and culture in the world. From the ancient cave paintings to the Egyptian hieroglyphics and from Greek mythologies to our modern-day novels, storytelling reflects parts another person’s life from a different time and place. Stories have a way of taking us out of our place in time and sending us into a realm created by the storyteller. We listen and tell stories every day to the people around us, whether they are our own stories or another person’s story. It is how we connect with each other intimately. Through storytelling, you give your audience a glimpse into your mind, the way you think and the way you perceive the world by how you illustrate the story. Architects create the frame for the user to define the space and the opportunity for the narrative of the user to be reflected in the frame and space of the architecture. Storytelling is used in architecture to bring the audience into the narrative constructed by the architect to create the experience. For my in-studio thesis project, I created a short film to tell the story of the Architectural Studio VI class. The images and video footage that I included are used to allow the audience to have a glimpse of what the life and environment of studio was like as the students were working collaboratively and independently to develop their designs. I produced this film with the intention to not only tell the story of the Architectural Studio VI class but to also bring my audience into the story through the images and video footage.