With the advent of technical reproduction the publication of architecture, as a medium trough which architectural ideas have been disseminated, has both conditioned our understanding of architecture and extended profound changes within the very art that it has reproduced. (McLaren p.88)
Architecture’s journey into paper has been a very particular one, as this weeks readings show, from the pessimistic notions raised in “Rise and Fall of the Megalopolis” where there is an evident discontent with fact that real life is being transferred into paper.
To the possibility of creating a national identity trough the portrayal of a nation’s architectural style as McLaren states.
As well as the creation of a social stereotype and an aspirational system for a society which Wright presents
And finally the transition into social media that has taken place in the most recent days as Mettern mentions.
The fact is that architecture as an art form entails more human interaction than any other. Lives are lived around or inside an architect’s work, and therefore it doesn’t matter how much you know about architecture, you can always have an a opinion about how a space is built.
Therefore the possibility of transcribing architecture into paper made the discussions about it a possibility, because it not only allowed architecture to go beyond the limits of its geographic location, as we discussed when we spoke about photography and architecture. But also because it open the possibility of architectural discussions and opinions form all over, the field for talking about architecture became wider, it didn’t exclusively revolve around the architects, but it became a common subject amongst various kinds of groups that experienced it.
This eclectic notion of architecture discussion has been brought back by the blog culture as Matter says. And I honestly believe this where the success of architectural publication lies today, in making architecture accessible to the people in relating it to different art forms and looking at it as something that exists in the real world and therefore is relevant to everyone.
Gala, I like this genealogy you’ve traced through architectural periodicals, as they’re represented through the various readings for this week.
I’m glad, too, that you’re looking at how the various media forms we’ve addressed this semester both expand the reach of architectural discourse, and perhaps make it accessible to new audiences. It’s important to keep in mind that our class has been structured so we’re working *backward* in media history. Print obviously came before photography and film and blogs — but even in the age of cinema, the age of the mechanically reproduced image, etc., architectural print periodicals persist! We should think about what niche these material publication formats continue to fill in this age of blog-based criticism, which you address in your final paragraph.