Architecture as Image

Abstract

Architectural photography that generally aims to be a ‘portrait’ of a building, in the way of representing its best appearance, often it is far from offering a sense of the architectural experience. Architectural photography can be classified into three basic types, the most representative of the experiential aspect being partial photographs that can re-create our movements and perception as we move in space. Furthermore, few architectural photographs refer to the sense of the materials or how our bodies relate to the physicality of the building. It is often disregarded that buildings like people change in time and have a life story. If photography is usually time-specific, can it, through certain techniques, make us understand the duration in time of an architectural object? This paper will try to affront these aspects and problems of architectural photography.