Looking; looking back

Abstract

Architectural representation – concerned as it is with things at levels of abstraction, scales of ‘bigness’, and already complex, intertwined and multi-layered contexts – often overlooks or presupposes the seemingly straightforward attributes of its engagement. Acts of looking at (or into) architectural imagery, objects and other phenomena are principally concerned with the spaces held within, rather than asking us to reflect on the experience of interacting with the representational device itself. In this way, architectural imagery attempts to mask its own presence. By always gesturing to the thing that is distant or unbuilt, it asks us, perversely, to pretend that it isn't there – that we are in fact engaging directly with the spaces and structures depicted rather than their likenesses in paper, card or otherwise. Our own practice (STASUS) and teaching concerns itself with the relationship between the observer and the architectural project, and the complex set of coded meanings which are engaged with in this encounter. We are particularly interested in the affecting nature of the space in which design processes are undertaken. In this paper, we reflect on the experience of encountering architectural projects through their representation, both in a state of completion and in process. We set out to reframe an idea of architectural design as the performance of a dialogue between recognisable, image-able things, held and staged by objects and media that don't meet or exceed expectations, but defy them, by demanding to be noticed.