Lens on! Photography as a design tool in the invention of modern architecture

拟议中的网络侧重于建筑研究中一个被忽视的理想：在20世纪的建筑设计过程中使用模拟摄影。尽管近年来建筑媒体的研究在建筑设计和表现中的重要性有了很大的进步和学者们越来越多的意识，但摄影从来没有作为建筑的设计工具被研究过，它作为一种产生知识的实践的潜力也被忽视了。因此，申请者提议在现代建筑创作的背景下研究摄影在生产知识方面的内在潜力。我们共同的假设是，摄影可以被视为一种比仅仅是代表性的复制品或建筑的客观记录更复杂的媒介。相反，我们建议模拟摄影通过其独特的特点和潜力积极介入建筑项目的设计。对设计过程和技术的研究目前是一个广泛辩论的话题，超越了建筑史和理论的界限。随着Adobe Creative Suite、CAD程序、参数设计软件等计算机程序的引入，以及最近增强现实和虚拟现实的使用，建筑办公室内的工作流程在过去20年中发生了迅速变化。这些变化的影响可能会在未来几十年影响到我们所有人，因为它们正在从根本上改变生产架构。因此，将我们的学术重点转向建筑中的设计工具和媒体，并研究它们的潜力，以了解它们如何在更大范围内影响建筑，这是至关重要的。通过选择一个早于数字工具发明的时间框架，我们提议将它们的起源作为媒体考古学的一部分挖掘出来，这将为今天的发展提供坚实的学术基础：不是与建筑媒体的历史脱节，而是沿着漫长的历史轨迹发展。归根结底，该网络的目标是在五次会议上讨论上述愿望，并在一份联合出版物中提供一套案例研究和提案。头三次会议将促进网络成员与涉及该专题的不同学术领域的外部专家之间的对话。最后两次会议将围绕编辑后的卷的制作展开。

The proposed network focuses on an overlooked desideratum of architectural research: the use of analogue photography in architectural design processes of the 20th century. Although recent years have seen significant progress and a growing scholarly awareness of the importance of research into architectural media both for the design and presentation of architecture, photography has never been studied as a design tool for architecture and its potential as a practice for generating knowledge has been neglected thus far.Therefore, the applicants are proposing to study photography’s innate potentials for the production of knowledge in the context of the creation of modern architecture. Our shared hypothesis is that photography can be regarded as a medium of greater complexity than merely a representative reproduction or an objective documentation of architecture. Instead, we suggest that analogue photography through its specific characteristics and potentials actively intervened in the design of architectural projects. Research into design processes and techniques is currently a widely debated topic that extends beyond the boundaries of architectural history and theory. Workflows within architectural offices have changed rapidly over the past two decades based on the introduction of computer programs such as Adobe Creative Suite, CAD programs, software for parametric design and, more recently, the use of augmented and virtual reality. The repercussions of these changes are likely to affect all of us for decades to come because they are altering the production architecture radically. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to shift our scholarly focus towards design tools and media in architecture and to study their potentials in order to understand how they influence architecture on a grander scale. By choosing a timeframe that precedes the invention of digital tools, we are proposing to unearth their origins as part of a media archaeology that will provide a solid scholarly basis for today’s developments: not disconnected from the history of architectural media but following a long historical trajectory. Ultimately, the aim of the network is to address the above mentioned desideratum in five meetings and to provide a set of case studies and proposals in a joint publication. The first three meetings will facilitate a conversation between the members of the network and external experts from different fields of scholarship that touch upon the topic. The two final meetings will center around the production of the edited volume.