ANOTHERSCAPE: An Archive of Urban Fiction
Online Showchase Anotherscape is an archive of urban fiction aimed at building up a platform that connects architects and writers through making various fictions in the format of architectural drawings and fictional writings.
CONCEPT

The undiscovered spatial fictions exist in the form of architectural drawings that speculate about possible worlds. However I realised that, while thousands of spatial fictions are created all the time, many of them are not told? The key drama in Anotherscape therefore centres on the possible expansion of the audiences of speculative drawings, and the research question established was: can architectural drawing, as a medium, link to another creative discipline? While architectural drawing presents imaginative space, fictional writing similarly tells imaginative stories. Across the common ground of world building, both architects and writers are expressing the narratives of our living environments. This suggested a possible answer: to connect the two disciplines though their respective media of drawing and writing – their unique means of storytelling. A compelling experience was created as an interface between the audience and the message. This was achieved through the creation of an archive of urban fiction, consisting of the collections and the briefs with key themes. The collections and the briefs communicate the inspirational aspects of the archive, in the form of a mobile exhibition and a series of steps for contributing fictions, which represent the achievement of the project’s first layer of objectives. The ultimate aim of the project, its secondary layer of objectives, is achieved when audiences understand for themselves the significance of the relationship between image and text. The key themes – the ‘qualities’ – in the briefs represent the corresponding features of drawing and writing. These qualities are integrated into the briefs, and the outcomes created by audiences – fictions in the format of drawing and writing – are categorised under these twenty-two headings. Most of the reactions and feedback from audiences suggested that the project was successful in inspiring a sense of intrigue in other participants’ works, in the act of disseminating the briefs, and in stimulating interest in participating further in the future. Moreover, many of the comments expressed interest in the relations between the visual and the textual and mentioned that they expect more interaction with the other audience group (writers or architects respectively). The outcomes in Anotherscape answered the research question. However, like many other projects, many more opportunities arose during the course of the project, as well as afterwards. It opened up a research journey into different modes of storytelling, experimented with specific ideas, and looks forward to more exploration towards other possibilities.


Szu-An Yu 俞思安


I work in a range of media across the design and architectural fields, from photography and film to graphic design and architectural work. I have a particular interest in practices of visual representation, especially in relation to urban spaces, which investigating in the work through exploring how the content of urban narratives and stories is expressed in different media. Currently based in London, I works as a graphic designer for a wayfinding and signage design consultancy. Before moving to London, I have worked in Taiwan, where I completed various graphic design and architectural projects and developed exhibitions, including for REC Alternative Space and Curating. I have also worked as a project assistant and teaching assistant at the Department of Architecture at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in Tainan. I have an Master of Arts in Narrative Environments from Central Saint Martins and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan.