Ole Storjohann Argues Storytelling, Not Post-Rationalisation, Drives Architectural Design

Published on September 28, 2026, an essay by Ole Storjohann titled "Stories as a Resource" appears in "Thresholds", a special edition printed newspaper produced by Cobe Notes in collaboration with ArchDaily. Storjohann frames storytelling and sweating as the two distinctly human traits that enabled early survival and global dispersal: sweating regulates body temperature over long distances, while stories allow large-scale collaboration and the transfer of knowledge between groups and generations. Architects, he writes, continue to depend on these same tools to turn visions into built reality. The essay challenges a common assumption about narrative, citing professor of stories Angus Fletcher and his book Primal Intelligence. According to Fletcher, the widespread belief is that a "rational" brain first develops an idea and then packages it into a story when explanation to a wider group fails. Fletcher argues the reverse: ideas originate in stories, the brain operates through stories, and stories construct reality. Storjohann applies this to architectural practice, noting that the profession has a derogatory label for reversing the process — "post-rationalisation" — such as when diagrams are produced to justify a design that has already been decided. The piece is illustrated with an AI-generated image credited to Cobe.