Metafictive Publishing and Pedagogy: A Hand in the Practical and a Foot in the Magical

Abstract This article explores the design and teaching practice of Night Kitchen, a London and Athens-based architectural research studio, and how their idiosyncratic engagement with picturebooks challenges the parameters of architectural representation and education, and design and storytelling. They argue that the picturebook format, often undervalued as an art form, offers unique possibilities for exploring the complexities of architecture and its relationship to history, narrative, and identity. The article examines Night Kitchen's use of fictional publishing strategies within their architectural research, focusing on how they integrate objects and metafictional elements to complicate the separation of fact and fiction. Next, it delves into the studio's pedagogical approach, which utilizes picturebooks and narrative to challenge the limitations of traditional architectural design portfolios. The student projects discussed exemplify how picturebooks and ideas of publishing can be employed to explore themes of cultural identity and personal history, and to critique Eurocentric architectural canons. Night Kitchen's approach is presented to foster a more multifaceted understanding of architecture—one that embraces the interplay of the real and imagined, and of objects and space. Furthermore, it highlights the potential of architectural picturebooks to re-imagine education and discourse, encouraging the exploration of complex narratives by way of the production of wild and untethered design propositions.