unbuilt #249

This is a journey through architecture that never existed.

Inspired by the grammatical rules behind French sacral architecture of the Middle Ages, this generative tool is meant for creating a collection of 256 plans of fictional buildings. Each plan is a unique variation on semantic relations between architectural elements: from a regular composition resembling existing churches to a dynamic aggregation of vaults, columns and chevets. But always following the same set of rules extracted from multiple examples of gothic cathedrals.

Every church has its place and time in which it could have been built in an alternative series of historical events.

This artistic tribute to the research of Stiny and Mitchell about Palladian architecture or Duarte's work about Siza takes the topic of formalizing architectural language onto a lighthearted level by moving it to a slightly imaginary world.

To zoom, press a mouse button when over the image or touch the screen. To pan, keep the mouse pressed and move it around.