Abstract:
This thesis is an architectural speculation that delights in the retelling of the humble fairy tale to reimagine our simultaneously enchanted and twisted modern world. Seeking the company of this fantastical realm of storytelling, it pursues the fairy tale by interrogating the intricacies of twentyfirst century culture and magnifying the (often) grim nuances of modern life. Through the lens of semiotics, we unravel how these fairy stories to this day permeate the perception and inhabitation of twenty-first century life, and how these tales can therefore be architecturally discussed and critiqued. Tales such as these reveal an imminent shift in discourse; suggesting an architectural allegory as a relevant mode of investigation. Using the project as a looking glass for reflection, this thesis uses the amusement park as a vehicle to question historical fairy tale tropes and morals. Imbued with the persistent signs and symbols prevalent throughout history, these fairy tale stories appear less fantastical the more closely we begin to examine them. By creating this twenty-first century fairy tale playground within the city, the project vehicle becomes a poignant and honest commentary on the state of life in the modern world. The resulting connections begin to articulate new poetic relationships born of their own time. For all its indelible otherworldliness, the fairy tale arrives here laden with history. Encoded with the repeating plots of tales across the centuries, it forms a mutually transformative relationship with that of both fictions and events of the past: one of backwards glances, wild anachronisms, revisionary updating’s and imaginary futures. This project presents a new line of flight into this fairy tale architecture of the twenty-first century. “The more one knows fairy tales the less fantastical they appear; they can be vehicles of the grimmest realism, expressing hope against all the odds with gritted teeth.” -Marina Warner From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy-Tales and their Tellers. 1994. p.52