Bartlett Summer Special 2

In the Land of Imaginary Buildings: A Compendium of Wondrous Architectures

Tutors: FleaFollyArchitects

FleaFollyArchitects, Grimm City, 2012

...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange
animals, statues, and gold everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment an eternity it must have seemed
to the others standing by I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand
the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, Can you see anything? it was all I could do to get out the
words, Yes, wonderful things. Howard Carter, Tomb of Tutankhamen
Taking inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges Book of Imaginary Beings, we will imagine a place which brims
with a miscellany of fantastical structures, set within a distant fictional land. Each student will discover, record
and archive a series of architectures that reside within this land and collectively these findings will form a
comprehensive archive of a wondrous world. These architectures may be wholly fantastical or they may be
visions or distortions of what is real or has the potential to be so.
We will start by transporting ourselves into a distant time where the built environment is not what we know it
to be. It has instead evolved, progressed or digressed through a process of (un)natural selection into a
curious yet strangely familiar landscape.
Borges compilation of 120 imaginary beings is like a map of the endless labyrinth of human imagination and
its contents. It holds, as it were, a mirror up to dreaming. By reading and drawing on these fantastical
creatures we will hold a mirror up to Borges visions by developing our own architectural interpretations of
these and henceforth giving these fictional beings a physical presence. Through drawing, sketching and
modeling these individual architectural fragments we will create a sort of cabinet of curiosities that describes
the Land of Imaginary Buildings through fossil-like imaginations.
The workshop will focus on applying analogue craft and drawing techniques in order to deliver highly
articulate and specific architectural fragments. The works will range from 2D collages and drawings to 3D
crafted elements. Each student will work with a number of key pieces of narrative text from The Book of
Imaginary Beings. Through investigation and speculation we will translate these literary chapters into
physical architectural manifestations. Alongside this process we will help students document, record and edit
the work in order facilitate the development of individual design portfolios. Throughout this workshop we will
be looking at the works of artists and architects such as Charles Avery, Joseph Cornell, Mark Dion, The
Quay Brothers, Brodsky and Utkin, Walter Pichler, James Wines (SITE) etc...
FleaFollyArchitects are spatial storytellers who use narrative and fiction to discover, explore and invent
unique architectural propositions encompassing all scales. Operating across, and blurring the boundaries
between the fields of architecture, design, art and installation, they use craft as a key component of their
work in trying to bring speculative worlds to the wider audience. Their work has been published extensively in
books and journals such as Mark Magazine, Blueprint, Icon, Domus and the Architectural Review. They have
exhibited around the world, notably at the Design Museum in London, RAW Gallery of Architecture in
Winnipeg, Sci-Arc in Los Angeles and the Beijing Biennale. FleaFollyArchitects was founded in London by
Pascal Bronner and Thomas Hillier who met whilst completing their Masters in Architecture at The Bartlett
School of Architecture. Since graduating both founders have worked for award-winning architecture practices
in London. They currently teach Architecture at The Bartlett and University of Greenwich. Drawing upon their
multidisciplinary experience in both architectural practice and through architectural teaching, their objective
no matter what the subject remains the same: to surprise and delight!

10 11 12

1. Mark Dion
2. Etienne Louis Boulee
3. Horniman Museum
4. Brothers Quay
5. Magritte
6. Max Ernst

7. Coin-Operated Automaton
8. Brodsky and Utkin
9. Joseph Cornell
10. Francois Schuitten
11. Anatomical Drawing
12. Walter Pichler