I think I’ve discovered a new favorite microgenre or trope or conceit, and I’m calling it Eerie Architecture.

Eerie Architecture is when something is wrong with the house or building, usually in an impossible, magical, or alien way. This wrongness feels hostile, or at least ominous. It also transforms the house into something that evokes wonder even as it induces horror. (Bonus points if the people experiencing the Eerie Architecture start to go insane or if the work is presented with pseudo-academic footnotes.)

I don’t actually tend to enjoy horror, but these works are often exceptions for me. It’s worth noting that simply having an evil supernatural entity or a serial killer who built or inhabits a house is not Eerie Architecture for me. There has to be something numinous about the structure itself.

Behold! Examples:

• House of Leaves (obviously) – Mark Z. Danielewski
• Strange Buildings – Uketsu
• The Room mobile game and its sequels, especially The Room: Old Sins – Fireproof Games
• The Duskmourn: House of Horror set from Magic: The Gathering – Wizards of the Coast
• The board game Betrayal at House on the Hill – Bruce Glassco
• Various iterations of The Backrooms – Kane Parsons and the Internet at large
• Season 2 of The OA – Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij
• Piranesi – Susanna Clarke

TV Tropes has at least three articles that are related to this phenomenon: Alien Geometries, Bizarrchitecture, and Malevolent Architecture. Alien Geometries are is Escher-like spaces that don’t conform to the laws of physics. Malevolent Architecture is when the house or building is constantly working against you (common in video games to provide challenges and puzzles to the players). Bizarrchitecture is a more general trope for buildings whose shapes don’t make sense. These approach what I’m describing, and Alien Geometries is pretty close, but none of them quite hits the mark.

Science fiction locales like the eponymous spaceship in Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke or the alien ruins in James S. A. Corey’s Cibola Burn sometimes scratch this itch as well. Two more tropes worth noting here are Starfish Aliens and Eldritch Starship. Starfish Aliens are often the original inhabitants of Eerie Architecture in space, and Eldritch Starships are the mobile version. Anytime a human is trying to explore, understand, or even just survive a location that isn’t meant for them, it’s a bit of Eerie Architecture.

What do you think? Is there already a name for this? What works am I missing from my list? Let me know in the comments!