BAZM-E-KHAYAL: A school beyond the threshold of reality

Abstract

Architecture has been both a reality and an imagining since the dawn of time. The physicality of built form is governed by structure, materiality and function; the ideology of architecture is governed by qualities that are not physical but mental qualities such as memory, myth, speculation, and fantasy. The intention of this thesis is to investigate and analyze how world-building and imaginative thinking skills could be used as valid tools for architecture and why it is not merely escapist fiction but a method that extends space beyond the defined typologies and limitations. The research begins with studying the intangible nature of architecture and takes references from key architectural theorists and philosophers. It then examines these characteristics in relation to a more elemental form of fictional architecture — fantasy — which operates through complex narrative logic, exaggerated atmosphere and culturally rooted form. The thesis examines the fantasy literature, film worldbuilding, and visual storytelling practices of these speculative worlds, arguing that they create meaning and identity by building an environment beyond mere realism. The theme of the thesis is to formulate a speculative architectural proposition by amalgamating the magical atmosphere of the Harry Potter world and the mythic Urdu dāstān tradition of Tilism-e-Hoshruba, inspired by the theoretical framework. This synthesis creates a space where mythical beings, shifting boundaries, enchanting learning spaces, talismanic objects intersect with South Asian and Indo-Persian realities. The project investigates how to transform storytelling into architecture by using portals, thresholds and narrative sequences as the points of contact between theory and Global South and, as an architectural object, a wizarding school named Bazm-e-Khayal, in which the fantastical world of khayal becomes a reality within the territory of the Himalayas. Finally, this thesis concludes that imagination is not antagonistic to reality but an extension of architectural thinking and can produce a space that reflects emotion, culture and experiential belonging. The project enhances architectural dialogue by fantasy and its relationship to the real world, thus making imagination a key instrument that can question the norms of architectural design and extend the limits of what is possible to express in architecture.