The Betrayer

I entered Figures of Architecture: Design Your Own Grotesque, an open call by Center for Architecture, New York (2026)

The brief asked: what is the grotesque of the 21st century? Grotesques have always guarded the working parts of a building: keystones, lintels, corbels, water spouts. So I placed mine on the structural element of our time, the space frame joint that roofs our airports, arenas and train stations.

The motif is Illidan Stormrage, the iconic anti-hero of the Warcraft universe. He made a Faustian bargain to save his people from a demon invasion and became demonic himself. Gothic grotesques were monsters set to keep evil out, demons guarding against demons, which made him the perfect candidate. Like the caryatids of ancient Greece, he’s condemned to bear a burden forever. Here he sits where every force converges, holding up the roof.