VVZ API is not affiliated with ETH Zurich. Data might be outdated or incorrect. Please view the official ETHZ Vorlesungsverzeichnis for binding information.
Storytelling in Architecture: What if?
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 15:36:03
Abstract
Architecture is often communicated through precise drawings and models, books and exhibitions. However, architecture is more than an object to be mediated on—it should be told through stories, characters, and what-if-scenarios that can disseminate to much wider audiences, giving architecture the opportunity to be understood as an argumentative, discursive practice. Fiction is a shared language.
Objective
The course is aimed at teaching students to identify and design architectural arguments introduced through narrative and fiction, inviting a wider audience to respond and interact with their ideas. We will first research fiction, reveal the structures and plots and develop compressed arguments (for {architectural} problems). How do you (emotionally) engage an audience? How do you convince with stories?
Content
The students will gain insight to the history and theory of film, drama, and fiction, with a clear focus on different methods of storytelling. Together we will think about the relations between subjects, human and nonhuman, and discuss ways of translating architectural knowledge to time-based media. The students will therefore construct narratives that communicate architectural, social, and political concepts more directly in the context of a wider argument. This is about writing. The course will be structured through input-lectures with accompanying discussions, aimed at developing individual perspectives on the course topic. These reflections will include economic, political and philosophical aspects and will lead to a coherent collaborative project, that will be carried out as a group.
Resources
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Information
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Semesterly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 60
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Storytelling in Architecture: What if?
There are 5 block courses (s. room reservations!)
No course on 14.9. (first day of the semester), 19.10. (seminar week) and 7th and 14th December 2020 (before final critics).
|
|
2 h weekly |