The Image of #Architecture 

TOWARDS A PHOTOGENIC ARCHITECTURE 

 
Entertainment SupraStudio Technology Seminar 
WED ​10am-1pm ​at ​IDEAS ​Campus 
David Jimenez Iniesta ​(​david.jimenez@aud.ucla.edu​) 
Kevin Pazik (​kevin.pazik@aud.ucla.edu​) 
 

 
 
 
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THE #ARCHITECTURAL IMAGE 
 
In 1967, Jacques Tati, the French cinema director released “Playtime”, a story about the trip of a young 
American tourist in Paris. The spectator realizes she is in Paris but the young Barbara spends her days in the 
city without being able to find the legendary Paris we all know, except for a reflection of the Eiffel Tower in a 
glassdoor and the sign of a fictional Charles de Gaulle Airport. This reflection of the iconic monument serves 
as an example of “a building that becomes entirely information—its message can be experienced through 
informational media. In fact, it is of almost no importance whether, for example, the Acropolis or the Pyramids 
exist in physical reality, as most people are aware of them through other media anyway and not through an 
experience of their own. Indeed, their importance—the role they play—is based on this effect of information.” 1 
The constant repetition of an image that perverts the recognition of the original object. The interest of 
Hollein’s essay goes beyond the rupture of the architectural disciplinary limits. Hollein ventured a globalized 
world concepcion through media where the difference between reality and virtuality, symbol and object 
became almost indifferent. “Architecture as a medium of communication” that goes beyond the built 
environment and becomes immaterial and virtual, it must seize media for itself.  
 
As Beatriz Colomina argues “Modern Architecture only became modern in its engagement with mass media.” 2 
It would be impossible to dissociate architecture with the most important transformation accounted in the 
social, cultural and economic milieu in the end of 20th and 21st Century: the arrival of Social Media. Ten years 
ago, in 2008, Eisenman's “six points on Architecture in the era of social media”3 augured a worrisome future 
about the poor quality of architectural proposals around media and technology. Nevertheless, discussing the 
validity of ICT over conventional media would be totally in vain. The democratization of information on the 
Internet has made possible the irruption of different agents that are producing and disseminating certain 
architectural tendencies and knowledge away from Universities, Professional Associations, specialized 
magazines and academic publications.  
 
“All media are extensions of some human faculty - psychic or physical. All media work us over completely. 
They are so pervasive in their personal, political, economic, aesthetic, psychological, moral, ethical and social 
consequences that they leave no no part of us untouched, unaffected, unaltered. The medium is the massage. 
Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without a knowledge of the way media work as 
environments.”4 The message is the discourse and event and platform, and that the technologies used to 
convey a message are the meaning themselves. 
 
Architecture has seized media (or Media has seized Architecture). Evidence may be seen in contemporary 
practices like OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen, Studio Anne Holtrop, Selgas Cano, OMA, or MOS 
Architects, to name a few.5 But we need not look further than #architecture. 

1
Hans Hollein, “Everything is Architecture” 
2
Beatriz Colomina, “Privacy and Publicity” 
3
6 points on Architecture in Social Media: Architecture in a media culture, passive students, computers make design standards poorer, 
today’s buildings lack meaning of reference, a period of late style and being an architect is a social act. 
4
Marshall Mcluhan, “The medium is the message” cited in “The medium is the “me(ma)ssage or fluxes and entertainment” of Rosa 
Ferré. Catalogue of the exhibition 1000m2 of desire. 
5
OFFICE and Anne Holtrop begin working with Bas Princen, their photographer, as early as concept design, transforming the role of the 
photographer from documentation to design. In a sense, this collaboration suggests that at once what is being designed is both the 
architecture and the image. Meanwhile, in an act of what could be seen as pure laziness (but is actually quite genius), Selgas Cano’s 
web domain, ​www.selgascano.net​ , simply redirects you to a Google Image Search of their name providing a near infinite scroll of highly 
photogenic imagery. OMA’s website contains links to bastard pictures of their buildings published by anonymous Instagram users. And 
then there’s MOS, leading the charge in #wip (work in progress) posting on their instagram, @mmmosarchitects, a carefully curated and 
timed set of images, committed but non-committal. These posts propose quite a different rhythm to the videos which were being 
produced by the office not too long ago. Regardless, the primary understanding of MOS Architects is through media, not experience. 
2/9 
 
Is the image the end of architecture? Or might it perhaps be a means to an end. The broad adoption of social 
media platforms by architects and their broad range of media, including images, stories, and videos, implies, 
on one hand, a simple pornification of the discipline and, on the other, a new medium for architects. The role of 
the architect, today, must include the production and curation of media and a simultaneous development of a 
cult following. This course is proposed as a step into this photogenic architectural movement by using specific 
media language, not only as a representation of a “new reality” or self promotion but as a design mechanism in 
a contemporary architectural milieu overburdened by images. How does the architect operate in the generation 
of media and cult followings?  
 
INSTAGRAM ARCHITECTURES. A MILLENNIAL PINK-SCREEN 
 
For the first time PANTONE selected in 2016 the blending of two shades as the color of the year.6 The same 
year, Vanity Fair published an article about Mandarina Duck last collection.7 A photo-shooting in ​“La Muralla 
Roja​,​” 8 a building block designed in 1973 by Ricardo Bofill, where the models posed in front of the pink and 
blue walls of the patios.9 Right after this, the building was used as a set for the videoclip of the French DJ and 
Producer Martin Solveig “Do it Right.” The building has become mainstream for fashion Instagrammers. 
 
Another example of this trend of photogenic architectures trends would be the 2015 Selgas Cano Pavilion for 
the Serpentine Gallery; a tubular structure using fluorine-based plastic ETFE. Critics said about it: “It's nothing if 
not photogenic. (...) ultimate Instagram pavilion, perfect for clicking, sharing and liking.”10 “Wow” effects, 
obviously. A paradise for Instagram addicts. The physical equivalent of the many renderings that intoxicate the 
real world with unattainable dreams (...) the pavilion has nothing to do with the images shot by Iwan Baan at 
night, when the lights give life to this great tent from the inside.”11 
 
On the one hand, “La muralla roja” brings highlight how users resignify spaces with their social media 
interaction. Pilgrim Instagrammers from all over the world populate the net with wedding photos, selfies and 
stories of this building that has gone from being a forgotten architecture (even by academia) to an asset of 
cultural interest. On the other hand, Baan's photographs of the pavilion reveal two aspects: the pavilion is an 
aesthetic experiment rather than an architecture. But also, that “its material design is understood as a 
rendering; a description and a prescription of the social tissues of which it participates."12 Reality is a 
construction that is built with the gaze (or in this case the photographer). 
 
 
COURSE OBJECTIVES 
 

6
Rose Quartz and Blue Serenity 2016 Pantone Colors of the Year. The ​Pantone Color Institute​ has declared a Color of the Year every 
year since 2000. As they go to pains to point out, it is a trend observation rather than a forecast, though its announcement does have an 
impact in the realms of décor and design. 
7
Vanity Fair, Nº0027 2016
8
Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, The Red Wall, 1973 
9
Bofill explains that “The criterion of applying a gamut of colours responds to the intention to give a determined relief to the distinct 
architectural elements, according to their functions(...) patios and stairs are treated with blue tones, such as sky-blue, indigo, violet, to 
produce a stronger or weaker contrast with the sky or, on the contrary, an optical effect of blending in with it. The intensity of the 
colours is also related to the light and shows how the combination of these elements can help create a greater illusion of space.” 
10
Sophie Davies, “The ultimate instagram playground.” Thedesignfizz. July, 2015 
11
Laura Traldi, “The Serpentine Pavilion by SelgasCano: designed for Instagram?. Desingatlarge, July, 2015 
12
Andres Jaque, Mies in the Basement: The Ordinary Confronts the Exceptiona​l. 2015 ​Jaque explains that social and material 
innovation are interdependent processes. "Society was technology itself, technology itself was social" 
3/9 
- To provide students cinematographic language tools and reference in order to allow them to establish 
audiovisual architectural narratives.  
- To instill a workflow where the photography or cinematography of architectural models becomes a means 
and method of design, not simply representation. 
- To interrogate the entourage which populates architectural representation. 
- To provide experience in audiovisual editing software. 
- To instigate students a critical reading of their architectural sources. 
 
MANDATORY SOFTWARE 
 
Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Cinema 4d, Rhinoceros 3d. All software on this list 
must be installed in E​ nglish​ by the beginning of the quarter, we encourage the use of student licenses 
whenever possible. 
 
COURSE REQUIREMENTS 
 
Attendance is mandatory at all seminars, pin-ups, lectures, and tutorials. All assignments are expected to be 
completed by the beginning of class. Failure to arrive on time with the completed assignment printed will result 
in the loss of one half letter grade. While in group desk reviews all group members are expected to be actively 
participating and engaged in the conversation, all other students are expected to be working during class.  
 
It is a requirement of this course that all students submit course materials digitally by the end of quarter. 
Failure to do so will result in the loss of one letter grade. All students must submit required assignments as 
compressed PDF files, JPG files, and MP4 files.  
 
ATTENDANCE POLICY 
 
Each ​unexcused ​absence ​will ​result ​with ​the ​reduction ​of ​one ​letter ​grade ​from ​the ​final ​grade. ​More ​than ​2 
unexcused ​absences ​will ​result ​with ​a ​failing ​grade. ​Being ​15 minutes ​late ​to ​the ​class ​will ​account ​for ​half ​an 
absence. 
 
DISABILITY ACCOMMODATIONS 
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Accessible 
Education (CAE) at (310) 825-1501 or in person at Murphy Hall A255. When possible, students should contact 
the CAE within the first two weeks of the term as reasonable notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. 
For more information visit ​www.cae.ucla.edu 
 
GRADING  
30% / Checkpoint 01 
10% / Checkpoint 02 
50% / Checkpoint 03 
10% / Class Participation 

SCHEDULE 
 
01/09  
4/9 
 Introduction Lecture 
Checkpoint 01 / Towards a Photogenic Architecture 
 
01/12 
Visit Eames House & Pacific Palisades Tour (TBC) 
 
01/16  
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Checkpoint 02 / #WIP 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
01/23  
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
01/30 
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
02/06 
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Group Desk Review + Working Session  
 
02/13  
MIDTERM REVIEW (ACTUAL DATE TBD) 
 
02/20   
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
02/27  
Internal Film Screening 
 
03/06  
Lecture and/or Tutorial 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
03/13 
Group Desk Review + Working Session 
 
03/20  
FINAL REVIEW (ACTUAL DATE TBD) 
 
 
CHECKPOINTS & REVIEWS 
 
01​ / Towards a Photogenic Architecture 
5/9 
 
This assignment will begin our research into the production of architectural imagery and the lifestyles they 
propose. Students will form groups of 4 students. Each group will choose an ​unbuilt​ Case Study House. As 
each Case Study House was developed for a fictional inhabitant, each group should work to redevelop this 
fictional inhabitant as a reflection of contemporary society. Each group will also choose a cinematic reference 
and designed social media account from a provided list. Alternate options may be considered on a case by 
case basis and determined by the compelling nature of the student’s argument. With these ingredients, the 
group will arrive to a photogenic / cinemagraphic thesis about their Case Study House and the lifestyle it 
projects and modify it’s design towards those ends. Students are to consider how a different set of inhabitants 
and how various photographic and cinematographic approaches will produce changes in the original project 
and how the specific media is affecting the design/explanation of the project.  
 
Each group will then produce a model, or set of models, to be photographed and filmed throughout the quarter. 
The requirements (scale, extents, materiality, etc.) of these models will be set by your proposals. These models 
are not meant to be final objects, but are sets or stages and should be constantly reworked and edited as the 
course progresses. 
 
For the first week, prepare a redesign of the inhabitant (text) and modified floor plan and sections (drawing) of 
your Case Study House which supports your analysis.  
 
 
 
Deliverables: 
 
The Model(s) produced (on Display) 
Photographs with Captions 
An updated Arts & Architecture Case Study House Program Chapter including: 
Updated Floor Plans / Section 
Updated Photographs with Captions 
Updated Text Descriptions 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
02​ / #WIP 
 

6/9 
This assignment is categorized as research through making, a moment for experimentation and testing, a #wip 
(work in progress). The purpose of this framework is to provide room for the translation from photograph to 
film. Each group will choose a set of special effects (either digital, in camera, or both) and work to incorporate 
them into their work. The chosen effects should help further the development of the thesis of each project. The 
culmination of this playtime will result in a short teaser film. Additionally, these effects should make their way 
back into the photographs in each group’s “updated Arts & Architecture Case Study House Program Chapter.”  
 
For the first week, prepare a ​ t least 1 video clip per group member​ each which work in different cinematic 
and/or compositing techniques. 
 
 
 
Deliverables:  
 
A short teaser​, of at least 4 clips / scenes.
 
 
 
 
 
 
MIDTERM REVIEW 
 
Deliverables: 
An updated Arts & Architecture Case Study House Program Chapter 
The Model(s) produced (on Display) 
Photographs with Captions 
A Teaser of at least 4 clips / scenes 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
03​ / Films, Movies, Videos 
 

7/9 
Simply stated, this assignment is the production of a final motion image. Students must choose a social 
medium for their film (Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat, Vimeo, DVD, etc.) and work to develop a motion image 
towards those ends. The social medium will determine the constraints for your film/movie/video, including, but 
not limited to, audience, setting, length, quality, and aspect ratio. Following midterm, groups will will begin 
working on storyboards and animatics, incorporating both comments from the review and constraints from 
their social medium. This research will culminate in a trailer which will be shown to a limited audience. After 
the screening of the trailer, each group, taking comments and criticisms into account, will go into full 
production. 
 
In addition, students should continue to develop their thesis on photogenic/cinemagraphic architecture taking 
into account the constraints and requirements given by their social medium. This thesis should evolve into a 
proposal/strategy for a social media account. Each group should also amend their “updated Arts & 
Architecture Case Study House Program Chapter,” with images and texts to matching their final film and 
photogenic/cinemagraphic thesis. 
 
For the first week of this checkpoint, students are asked to take into account the discussion at midterm and 
produce an initial storyboard for the trailer & film while working to further their techniques in special effects 
and compositing. 
 
Social Mediums: 
Facebook 
Instagram 
Snapchat 
Vimeo 
Youtube 
 
 
Deliverables: 
An architectural film, movie, or video.  
A Trailer shorter than ​2 minutes and 30 seconds. 
 
 
 
FINAL REVIEW 
 
Deliverables: 
A Proposal/Strategy for a Social Media Account 
Architectural Film, Movie, or Video 
An updated Arts & Architecture Case Study House Program Chapter 
The Model(s) produced (on Display) 
Photographs with Captions 
Collection of Behind the Scenes Photographs & Videos 
 
 
 
Bibliography 
 
8/9 
Abalos, Iñaki, T
​ he Good Life​, Gustavo Gili, Barcelona, Spain 
Colomina, Beatriz, D​ omesticity at War​, MIT Press 
Colomina, Beatriz, L ​ e Corbusier and Photography​, MIT Press 
Jacob, Sam, “Architecture Enters the Age of Post-Digital Drawing” 
Jacob, Sam, “Rendering: The Cave of the Digital” 
Godard, Jean Luc, “Introduction to a True Story of Cinema and Television” 
Holtrop, Anne, Princen, Bas, Teerds, Hans, Floris, Job, & De, Koning Krijn eds., ​OASE 84: Models, The Idea, the 
Representation and the Visionary 
McLuhan, Marshall, “The medium is the massage” 
McCoy, Esther, ​Case Study Houses 1945-1962 
Smith, Elizabeth, ​Case Study Houses 
Smith, Elizabeth, ​Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses 
Yaneva, Albena, M ​ ade by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture: An Ethnography of Design 
Young, Michael, ​The Estranged Object 
 
 
Filmography 
 
Von Trier, Lars, (2008), “Dogville” 
Godard, Jean Luc (1963), “Le Mepris” 
Hitchcock, Alfred (1958), “Vertigo” 
Bêka and Lemoine, (2013) “Koolhaas Houselife”   
Ozu, Yasujiro (1960), “Late Autumn”  
Tati, Jacques, (1967), “Playtime” 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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