Contemporary image constructions

Recent decades have been characterized by an unrelenting stream of architectural images that, in their multiplicity, are often considered mundane and obvious. In contrast, this study conceives of these architectural images as central elements of contemporary architectural discourse. Moreover, in the years following the turn of the millenium, a familiarity with digital techniques seems to have developed that resulted in a range of hybrid drawing and presentation techniques. They exhibit an interplay between new media and longer traditions. The investment is both in the construction of the images, and in their relationship to an architectural project, and in the performance of the images in institutional situations. The PhD examines the deployment of architectural images at these 3 levels, and the interaction between them using three practices that occupy specific points in the Western European architectural field: architects de vylder vinck taillieu (Ghent, °2010), Caruso St John (London, °1990) and OFFICE KGDVS (Brussels, °2002). The images are analyzed between practice and discursive field in order to deepen their operationality.

Part one considers the images as visual constructions which, through their technique, architectural and visual references, can guide and situate a project. Here we start from the didactic positions taken by the different associates at leading institutions. This section argues that on the basis of visual traditions and visual tropes, a specific discourse is constructed. Within this shared framework, specific knowledge is conveyed in a situated manner. 

Part two places images at the center of the architectural discipline as part of a set of documents representing an architectural project. Here, the constructed images are considered a supplement to the classical orthographic set. By considering the images in a long tradition of architectural drawings, but also by relating them to images to which they directly relate (such as competition entries by different firms), the difference they make is probed. The hypothesis here is that there is a project in the differentiation they make, that works across projects. Moreover, this differentiation changes over time, recalibrating singular projects and adjusting or enriching the overarching project.

Finally, the third section considers how images are staged in different institutional contexts to bring a monographic narrative. Within these gallery and museum contexts, the interpretation of the images is strongly directed and may or may not be detached from the individual architectural project. This section is constructed through a set of case studies that evoke the occasions within which these images are staged or even for which the images were specifically produced. The focus here is on the monographic image that is constructed and the shifts in meaning that the images exhibit within different contexts.

Using the three parts, the relationship between image and project is explored, as well as the relationship relative to an identity as a practice. The construction of the images is thus considered as the construction of a visual discourse/visual discourses, which manifests itself latently alongside written and spoken discourse. Throughout the examination of the constructed images and their performance, a specific set of architectural practices is studied that has left their mark on the last two decades and that offers a particular view on the architectural landscape, and by extension on the visual culture of architecture. The research shows how the complex interplay between the singular project and a broader visual culture is a guiding force for this set of practices and furthermore creates a crucial context for the contemporary architectural field.

Project Info

Research group: Architecture Culture and the Contemporary (ACC)
Start Date: 01/10/2017
Researcher: Louis De Mey
Academic supervisor: Maarten Liefooghe and Maarten Van Den Driessche