Built Images: On the Visual Aestheticization of Today’s Architecture

Abstract

Architecture and image have forever shared an intimate connection. A phase of imagination has always preceded the production of architecture, be it as drawings, diagrams, plans or perspectives, abstract or not. Architecture has always been thought in terms of, and communicated by means of, pictures. Nowadays, however, we increasingly encounter architecture that —consciously or unconsciously— seems to be preoccupied with its visual impact; an architecture moving ineluctably towards the mere production of enticing images, foregrounding its visual aestheticization. Today’s trend in architecture of using images both as tools for development and for communication might be traced back to the interplay of various changed contextual factors. This essay aims to highlight certain factors seemingly favouring the visual aestheticization of today’s architecture.