Architecture exceeds the distinction between the cultural and the natural. It is an artifact that deploys its own force, and thus points us to our relatedness. By way of a thought experiment, the article introduces architecture as a fellow being into the Anthropocene debate, one that helps us reconsider our human situation. Using the example of the public reactions to the Notre-Dame de Paris fire in 2019, it explores how architecture itself appears as a cultural force. It affects the life and the togetherness of people; it encourages us to conceive of society in material terms as a multiplicity that involves our senses and sensitivity; and it reminds us of how creative and destructive forces are interwoven.