Affective logic of competition images

Abstract

Architectural images operate through convention to depict, describe or identify a building as a means to communicate the content of a building. Competition images eschew this relationship slightly because they are staged images – images that act as a promise of a possible built future. Although there is a growing body of work looking at the interactions and transactions between different mediums, the architectural discipline is still focused on a critical reading of images. Our contribution is to give serious attention to the process of image production for architectural competitions, in particular the shift from a rationally driven logic of these images towards an amplification of affect. In this article we examine the affective logic of winning competition images by the architects Morphosis as well as Reiser and Umemoto’s RUR Architecture P.C. to explore how these images are staged through composition, colour and cinematic expression. Based on these examples we argue critically that these images demonstrate a shift in image making in architecture which speaks of its intersection with media culture. Importantly, the images are also telling of a shifting expectation that architecture is not just a rational object or carrier of symbolic meaning but also a space that amplifies and stages experience.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

[1] This article follows Sara Ahmed’s definition of ‘promise’ where, drawing on Edmund Husserl, she illustrates how happiness is a promise. Here the term is used in relation to ‘promittere’ (Latin) meaning ‘to let go or send forth’ (Ahmed 2010, 38). Ahmed’s definition is useful to understand ‘promise’ as an anticipation towards a potential optimistic future.

[2] Indeed, there are other prominent scholars on ‘atmosphere.’ See for example, Sloterdijk, Peter. 2005. Atmospheric Politics. In Making things public: Atmospheres of democracy, edited by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel. Karlsruhe: ZKM and MIT Press, 944–951; Wigley, Mark. 1998. The architecture of atmosphere. Daidalos 68: 18–27; Hill, Jonathan. 2012. Weather architecture. London: Routledge, 46–85. Also, Tim Ingold’s concept of being immersed by the ‘weather-world.’ Ingold, Tim. 2005. The eye of the storm: Visual perception and the weather. Visual Studies 20 (2): 98–104. The position by Gernot Böhme is also of interest – see, Böhme, Gernot. 1993. Atmosphere as the fundamental concept of a new aesthetics. Thesis Eleven 36: 113–126.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jan Smitheram

Dr Jan Smitheram is a senior lecturer in the School of Architecture at Victoria University of Wellington where she teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students. Extending work from her Ph.D. she looks at the relationship between performance, performativity and affect within the context of architecture. Her recent research in collaboration with Simon Twose looks at architectural practice through the lens of performativity and affect. Her work has been published in international journals and conference proceedings.

Dr Akari Nakai Kidd is a lecturer of Architecture at Deakin University. She has experience teaching at Victoria University of Wellington where she taught in the areas of architectural design and architectural criticism and theory at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her doctoral research explored the architectural and theoretical relations that can be drawn out when architectural practices are viewed through the lens of affect. Akari has worked under architect Kengo Kuma in Japan and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from The Cooper Union in New York.

Scott Meekings is a post-graduate student at Victoria University of Wellington and a member of the Digital Architecture Research Alliance (DARA). In collaboration with Prof. Marc Aurel Schnabel and Serdar Aydin he is currently investigating the role of computational design in digital heritage.