Fantastic Architecture

Architecture is as much about imagination as it is about shelter or utility. In Fantastic Architecture, actual buildings are pitted against buildings imagined. From the haunted labyrinth of the Winchester House to Gaudí’s dragon-roofed Casa Batlló, from Dante’s descent into Hell to Saudi Arabia’s futuristic Line, Mustansir Dalvi traces how architecture becomes a vessel for stories, dreams and anxieties. Moving between literature, cinema, visionary drawings and real buildings, this book reveals how the fantastic remains a vital way to question the city we have and the city we are becoming. Both playful and profound, it invites us to see architecture as theatre and allegory, a rabbit-hole of possibilities and impossibilities, constantly challenging our perceptions.