Transforming the Media Exposure of a City through Star Architecture Projects?

Abstract

Can star architecture projects contribute to repositioning their respective cities? Based on the idea that star architecture projects cannot be read at ground level, and instead, the media is their primary site (Foster 2008) of reading, this paper focuses on the role that these special projects play in transforming the media exposure of their respective cities. The circulation of the “Bilbao effect” (Ponzini 2010), an urban policy in motion (Gonzáles 2011), paved the way for this idea; that is, build flagship architecture by a star architect, and thereby disrupt or transform the image of a city. Making use of case studies of three public cultural facilities commissioned to star architects and put into use in three medium-sized European cities in the past ten years, this paper “reads” these projects in the media. It investigates the extent to which a transformation of exposure in the print media has accompanied the development of star architecture projects in their respective cities. Findings regarding quantitative research of selected international and national newspapers and media platforms are presented.

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG) under Grant No. TH 1334/11-1 entitled “Star architecture and its role in re-positioning small and medium sized cities”.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nadia Alaily-Mattar

Dr Nadia Alaily-Mattar is a research associate and lecturer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). She is an architect, graduating from the American University of Beirut. She holds a PhD from University College London and a Master’s degree from The London School of Economics and Political Science. Between September 2015 and August 2017, she managed a multi-disciplinary research project entitled “Star architecture and its role in re-positioning small and medium sized cities”, funded by the German Research Fund (DFG). Dr Alaily-Mattar previously worked as an architect in Lebanon and as a research associate at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia.

Nicolas Büren

Nicolas Büren is a graduate architect from the Peter Behrens School of Architecture, Düsseldorf. He holds a Master’s in Urbanism (Landscape and City) from the Technical University of Munich. From 2016 to 2017, he was a research assistant at the Department of Urban Development, TUM, where he was responsible for collecting and analysing data pertaining to the media exposure of star architecture projects.

Alain Thierstein

Professor Dr Alain Thierstein is involved in research on urban and metropolitan development, spatial impact of the knowledge economy – in particular, the visualisation of non-physical firm relationships as well as spatial interaction of locational choice of residence, work and mobility – and the role of star architecture in repositioning medium-sized cities. He is Full Professor for Urban Development in the Department of Architecture at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He is affiliated with the consultancy of EBP Schweiz AG, Zurich, as partner and senior consultant in the area of urban and regional economic development. He holds a Master’s and a PhD in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.