This is Not Architecture - Consuming Images - Book Review

Architectural Review, The, Sept, 2002 by Bobby Open

THIS IS NOT ARCHITECTURE

Edited by Kester Rattenbury. London: E & FN Span. 2002. [pounds sterling]24.99

This Is Not Architecture is a collection of essays exploring aspects of the relationship between architecture and its media representation. Contributors include James Ackerman, Patrick Keiller, UN Studio, Beatriz Colomina and William Mitchell.

Referenced by Colomina, it is interesting to back-track to the writings of Theodor Adorno. Adorno describes the process by which a cultural commodity (a combination of 'use value' and 'exchange value') may become fetishized for its exchange value as this is prioritized over use value. With architecture, use value may be marginalized by a project's media representation: Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim was published in over 700 newspapers and journals before opening, read by more people than will ever visit the building. In This Is Not Architecture Pierluigi Serraino highlights the consumption of Koenig's SStahl House through its iconic night-time photographs overlooking the carpet of LA lights. Furthermore, Fredric Jameson has argued that some contemporary architecture is designed for photography.

An artefact is thus fetishized for its exchange value, and it is this fetish quality that is sought. This is visible in the proliferation of brand-name architects' work in cities throughout the world, brands linked with symbolic images of 'civic', 'museum' and 'transport'. Adorno argues that fetishization of cultural commodities leads to a sacrifice of individuality and the debasing of humanity. Extreme? Maybe. It is fortunate that Gehry's Guggenheim and the Stahl House are powerful works of architecture which can counter this claim.

This Is Not Architecture is split into four sections, loosely based around the history of the architectural image, the relationship between design and representation, the dynamics of architectural publishing, and the media and mediation. The essays are wide-ranging, looking at areas as diverse as architectural books, film-making and computer game design, and they consistently and intelligently apply their expertise to speculation on implications for the built environment. An excellent book.