<Article>Breaking the Spell of Architecture and Architectural Photography : Architectural Structure as Representational Culture

This paper, based on the ideas of the architect Kuma Kengo, examines the influence that architecture and architectural photography as representational culture have had on people and society. Also under consideration is what the future may hold for such ideas. As stated by Kuma, the development of computers has led to overly advanced methods of photographic processing that have resulted in a loss of trust in architectural photography, and consequently, a renewed desire for the real has emerged. The gentle "healing"-type buildings, for example, could become the norm in next-generation architecture. Both architecture and architectural photography are examples of representational culture. It is necessary, therefore, to consider what relationship the subject has to the mass consumer society that lies at its root and what type of influence contemporary value systems have had on representational culture. In other words, to fully comprehend the relationship between the dynamic movement of culture as well as the discord in the social system that has risen in respect to that culture, it is necessary to view the problem from the perspective of representational culture theory. According to Jean Baudrillard, contemporary consumption as representation is the consumption of varied signs. Correspondingly, architecture and architectural photography are representational, thus becoming targets of consumption, even by virtue of varied signs. It follows that consideration of the representational culture theory promises new possibilities in architecture and architectural photography. These possibilities can be found in the reexamination of contemporary values symbolized by concepts regarding laws of perspective in the representational culture of architecture and architectural photography, from which next-generation architecture and architectural photography are likely to emerge. I have tried to explore these possibilities in an Adolf Loose housing development, which is being constructed without blueprints from the details of the site, in old Japanese architecture, with its ability to freely alter space and change atmosphere, and in exceptional regional architecture of today that makes full use of the vernacular of its natural surroundings. With their special focus on perspective and the beauty of their final plans, these examples display a reconsideration of the design methodology of architecture. Moreover, despite being a single event created by the arbitrary slicing of light into time and space, problems arise when we look for truth in the photographic medium. Reflections of the political mechanics of the current order can naturally be seen in both architecture and architectural photography, as they are examples of representational culture. The order is based on power that stems from a unipolar system of politics and economics, which presupposes limitless economic growth and is burdened with the fate of supervising culture. For instance, because a large number of Japanese people live in densely populated housing areas such as public housing developments or apartment buildings, this type of lifestyle has come to be viewed as extremely ordinary. In fact, the belief has been incorporated into contemporary mass consumer society through the use of advertising with skillfully produced photographs designed to create the desire to purchase. In this way, contemporary political and economic pressure underlies architecture and architectural photography and is reflected in the way we live our lives. The emergence of "healing"-type and barrier-free architecture indicates that the closed culture of the past is beginning to be broken down and that possibilities exist in architecture and architectural photography as representational culture.