The magic of architecture: Harry Potter book cover in new design

2 min read

Azkaban, Hogwarts, Hagrid's Hut or the Burrow ­– anyone who is familiar with architecture, not only in the real world but also in the magical world, will know that all these extraordinary buildings are not to be found in New York or Tokyo, but in the fantastic environment of the world-famous wizard Harry Potter.

It doesn't take long for many people to conjure up a detailed image of the buildings mentioned above, based either on their depiction in the films or on their pure imagination from reading the books. For the covers of the new Italian edition of Salani Editore, designer and architect Michele De Lucchi / AMDL CIRCLE brings these fictional places to the fore and reinterprets them. In doing so, he miraculously combines fantasy and contemporary architecture to create unprecedented scenarios. To do so, he deliberately departs from Harry Potter's classic iconography, thereby stimulating the imagination of Harry Potter fans in a new way. "If everything is already perfect and defined, how can we create something new? We return to zero and represent places as archetypes," explains the office.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

On the cover of the first book appears the wizarding school Hogwarts. Inspired by the Gothic abbeys of Tuscany and central Italy, it is a sturdy building, firmly anchored to the ground and looking metaphorically into the future through the sweep of its towers reaching into the sky.

 

© marco menghi

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

The second volume of the book series focuses on the Burrow that Harry Potter's friend Ron Weasley lives in with his family. It embodies the idea of a loving home, of feeling at ease and living together. On the new cover, it is depicted as a wooden building made up of many layers, which only seems to balance itself out through magic. It is based on the old construction of cathedrals, whose roofs protect against snow and rain.

 

© marco menghi

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The prison of Azkaban is never described in the books. All that is known is that it is located on an icy island in the North Sea. For the book cover, Michele De Lucchi / AMDL CIRCLE imagined a monolith – a mythological construction reminiscent of the Hotel Medea in Batumi. The result is a tall tower of superimposed volumes that seem to grow ever higher.

© marco menghi

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Quidditch is the most popular sport in the wizarding world of Harry Potter and is played in the Quidditch arena. Therefore, it is more than obvious that the look of a stadium served as a model here. The stands appear as a temporary installation and refer to the possibility of disassembling and reassembling certain architectural objects in different contexts for events.

© marco menghi

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Rubeus Hagrid is the keeper of the keys and lands of Hogwarts and inhabits a hut near the Forbidden Forest. The appearance of this dwelling on the new cover is based on the appearance of haystacks – constructs that blend into the surrounding nature and are created by hand. They have a simple shape created by layering materials.

© marco menghi

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

As a cover for the final battle at Hogwarts in the last volume of the book series, the office chose the image of a large covered bridge, reminiscent of the Peace Bridge in Tbilisi, which also features prominently in the films. This consists of a pedestrian walkway and a filigree roof that seems to float in the air. By definition, a bridge is a symbolic architecture and a place of cohesion of two points.

© marco menghi
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