Evan Bruetsch, Designer, MADE Design x Build, New York, NY

Humans have always relied on narratives to make sense of the world around them. Narratives offer us ways to imagine new realities and explain the un-explainable and thus have always been important to architecture, a field that exists mostly in a projective state. However, narratives are very seldom a simple recounting of events. Narrative’s power resides in the fact that they allow their authors to deliver a message to an audience packaged as one of our most beloved pastimes, the story. It is the susceptible state in which we consume stories however that reveals the dangerous impact that narratives can have. Whether it come from our favorite news source, film, or piece of literature the stories we consume heavily influence our behaviors and realities, and thus require critical consideration. As architects, it becomes imperative that we make the critical distinction between the fictional characters of film, or literature, and the very real actors of architecture. We must not fall victim to neglecting, or generalizing our actors to better service our personal agendas. Regardless of our audience we must constantly practice critical and considerate narratives if we hope to make a positive impact on the world around us.