| 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 a library 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. |
