The course is a review of key events that changed the means that architects use to communicate their work. The aim of the course is to encourage a critical approach to contemporary communication media and the total prevalence of the 'culture of the image'.
In architecture, representation is a means to an end, and not an end in itself. Whenever we make an image, we are trying to visualize something, more in the sense of projecting, rather than making a self-sufficient work of art. Images’ main goal, whether they depict real space or not, is to secure ideas and make them more evident. Therefore, representation is an integral part of architectural creation.
The images, of course, leaked out and ceased to be exclusively a tool in the architect's workshop. Magazines or digital social networks rely heavily, if not exclusively, on images. 20th century periodicals shaped architectural culture, fostering interaction and exchange. Without their existence the architectural developments of the previous century would have been quite different. Will the same be true of digital media in the future?
The course is based on a series of lectures, seminars and a final project or paper on the topic: critical analysis of an image.