Well, I exaggerate a little.

There are houses which indulge in the fiction that they were built long ago, when in fact they were built recently. But this is fakery more than fiction.

We all love a good yarn, and if books can be divided into fiction and non-fiction, why can’t buildings? Ever since I left the University of Melbourne in the 1970’s I have drifted in the direction of conjuring up designs which have a make-believe component, and in recent years I have found a phrase to define and explain this tendency: fiction architecture.

Fiction architecture begins with a decision to indulge in a made-up concept, and equates to the novel rather than the textbook.

It is an alternative to our usual practice of engaging with current issues and letting the building be a documentary statement of the values of the architect and owner. By incorporating narratives of pretence, it addresses one of the main problems of new development, which is sterility. We like to preserve old buildings and precincts because they contain layers of history, a sense of human habitation and care, a feeling of mystery, and so on. In making new places, sensitivity to the natural environment, respect for the existing surroundings, attention to human needs, a sense of scale and aesthetic skills are fundamental ingredients, and all architecture should aspire to these things. Many architects also include some kind of narrative response to context.

Fiction architecture enables the expression of something further, which is our capacity to engage in make-believe, and in doing so, to explore our ideas, knowledge, beliefs, hopes and fears.

Photo credits: Mark Munro, Simon Thornton