Graphic (re)presentations of architecture in contemporary publishing

Abstract

Over the course of the last decade, there has been a rise in the number of books published 'on' or 'about' architecture that display a strong influence from, or are even conceived by, other disciplines and media forms. The field of graphic design has been particularly prominent: Koolhaas' S,M,L,XL was the result of collaboration with Bruce Mau, a graphic designer. The influence of Mau is obvious, where text, graphic, photography, drawings and architecture have been integrated on the page to form a series of images that together make up the book. This dissertation will investigate the impact of the media on contemporary architectural representation, and within that, focus primarily on the influence of the graphic designer, as their expertise is in the realm of the visual. In contemporary society, it is the visual sense that is dominant, and has been since the development of the printing press which provided the first uniformly repeatable commodity. McLuhan argues that the use of the alphabet 'fostered and encouraged the habit of perceiving all environment in visual and spatial terms.' McLuhan, Marshall & Fiore, Quentin; The Medium is the Massage, p. 45 However, McLuhan states further that the older, traditional ideas of private, isolated thoughts and actions (patterns of mechanistic technologies) are threatened by the pervasiveness of instantaneous electronic media. McLuhan, p. 12, p. 26 It is within this context that current architectural publishing exists, and so begins to take on elements of its environment in order to compete and survive. Hays argues that, 'feeling increasing pressure from theories of complex systems as well as from the technologies of information and communication, architecture seems to react by trying to become just those things - theories and media.' Hays, K Michael; Architecture Theory, Media, and the Question of Audience, p.44