Even in a moment of digital explosion such as the one we are living, comics and graphic narrative are the new ‘cool’ in architectural schools (sorry), making it into architectural design courses, and showing up as a new fashion in architectural representation/communication.
by Klaus in Klaustoon's Blog
Architecture and narrative, as Victor Hugo nostalgically pointed out in The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, have walked hand in hand through history, crossing paths without really risking the extinction that the archdeacon of Notre-Dame gloomily predicted. Today, in a moment where the conjunction of the crisis and the entrance into a new stage in the communication era impulse the discipline into new, multiple directions, the narrative aspects of architecture come to the front. This issue tackles the intersections between architectural practices and different forms of visual narrative. Within this overall theme, our NARRATIVE issue moves on both sides of the line that separates these two disciplines, presenting three different perspectives, organized in three consecutive parts. The first section of the issue deals with the presence of graphic narrative in disciplinary architecture, both past and present while the second one discusses the crossing of borders portrayed by comics artists who also make forays into the built world. Finally, the third one moves towards both sides of the spectrum, briefly covering the tangents with (implied) written narratives and emerging animation practices in architecture.
Contributions by Andrea Alberghini, Ethel Baraona Pohl, Sir Peter Cook, Manuele Fior, Factory Fifteen, Iker Gil, Jones, Partners: Architecture, Tom Kaczynski, Jimenez Lai, Klaus, Léopold Lambert, Luis Miguel (Koldo) Lus Arana, Marc-Antoine Mathieu, Clara Olóriz Sanjuán, Cesar Reyes Nájera, François Schuiten, Joost Swarte, Mélanie van der Hoorn, and Chris Ware whose work is featured in our cover.
This issue is guest edited by architectural scholar Koldo Lus Arana and architect-cartoonist Klaus.
Introduction
Architectural Narratives. Issue statement by Iker Gil,editor in chief of MAS Context.
Building Stories
Drawings by Chris Ware. Text by Klaus.
Comics and Architecture, Comics in Architecture
Essay by Koldo Lus Arana.
Amazing Archigram!
Clara Olóriz and Koldo Lus Arana interview architect Sir Peter Cook.
Lost in the Line
Graphic Novel by Léopold Lambert.
Out of Water
Graphic Novel by Jimenez Lai.
Cartooning Architecture and Other Issues
Iker Gil interviews graphic artist Klaus.
Starchitecture Redux
Cartoons by Klaus.
Swarte’s Mystery Theater
Koldo Lus Arana in conversation with Joost Swarte.
Images Come First
Andrea Alberghini interviews Manuele Fior.
