Crafting 'Genius Loci': The intersection of research and creative imagining about real places

The concept of genius loci operates in an interdisciplinary space from mythology to modern architecture, and for a writer it offers explorations of the essence of real places. Michael Pretzet (2008) suggests genius loci can be created through the relationship between spirit, the intangible, and place, the tangible. This means that to construct the spirit of a place involves a holistic approach to the historic, symbolic, and mythic attributes of that place (Jones 2022). I argue that the crafting of real-world places requires the consideration of how historical research and the writer’s own creative imaginings can intersect to form genius loci that capture an ‘intangible tangibility’ (Pretzet 2008). Using the location of the Lunatic Asylum/Arts Centre of Walyalup, Fremantle in Western Australia, I explore the complexities of marrying contrasting ideas of representing a place’s authentic past and the poetic aesthetic needed to evoke a sense of place using purposely constructed genius loci.