A collection of thoughts about the influence that Internet and social media are exercising on architectural theory and practice, accompanied by some suggestions about how architects should react to it.

1. Architecture
into the Universe
of Social Media

3. Chapter 1
This Ain’t Destroy That

4. This will destroy That.The Book will destroy the
Edifice. (…) One Art would dethrone another Art:
Printing will destroy Architecture.
Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris (1831)

5. Early movable printing press (1568)

6. Sebastiano Serlio, Synoptic table of the orders (1537)

7. When we speak of architecture we may mean either
something built or a body of knowledge – a collection
of experiences that may be transformed into models
or rules and that continues to exist only if these are
recorded, accumulated, and transmitted. Recording
and transmission are dependent on the instruments,
vehicles, and media used to carry them out. Such
mediating techniques change over time, and as
information science has shown us, no means of
communication is either universal or neutral.
Mario Carpo, Architecture in the Age of Printing. Orality, Writing, Typography, and
Printed Images in the History of Architectural Theory (1990)

8. languages
media artefacts
messages

9. Applegath's Printing Press in the Crystal Palace, in the Illustrated London News (31 May 1851)

10. Skilling-Magazine showing the Crystal Palace (31 May 1851)

11. X-Ray of Chameleon Cristatus (1896)

12. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Glass Skyscraper (1922)

13. Long distance Xerography (1964)

14. Archigram n.1 (1961)

15. Internet Explorer commercial (1995)

16. Madelon Vriesendorp, Cover of The Story of Post-Modernism (2011)

17. First iPhone (2007)

22. Facebook global connections map (2010)

23. Facebook network visualisation

25. Facebook VR presented at Barcelona Mobile World Congress (2016)

26. Post-Internet is defined as a result of the
contemporary moment: inherently informed by
ubiquitous authorship, the development of attention
as currency, the collapse of physical space in
networked culture, and the infinite reproducibility and
mutability of digital materials.
Artie Vierkant, The Image Object Post-Internet (2010)

27. Chapter 2
The Archive of Babel

28. Aby Warburg, Atlas Mnemosyne (1929)

29. Josh Begley, Every NYT Page since 1852 (2017)

30. Eric Kessels, 24H in Photos (2011)

31. We live in an illusory world of technical images, and
we increasingly experience, recognize, evaluate, and
act as a function of these images.
Vilém Flusser, Into the Universe of Technical Images (1985)

32. Davide Trabucco, Confórmi (2018)

33. Davide Trabucco, Hadidelsohn (2018)

34. Adam Nathaniel Furman,The Roman Singularity (2015)

35. Adam Nathaniel Furman,The Roman Singularity (2015)

36. Andrew Kovacs, Proposal for Collective Living (2015)

37. Andrew Kovacs, Social Condenser (2015)

38. Kengo Kuma, M2 Building (1991)

39. The linearity of history is turned against the
circularity of technical images. History advances so to
be turned into images – posthistory. (…) For these
images, the universe of history is nothing more than a
field of possibilities from which images can be made.
Vilém Flusser, Into the Universe of Technical Images (1985)

40. Filip Dujardin, Impossible Architecture (2008-2012)

41. Victor Enrich, City Portraits (2006)

42. Philipp Schaerer, Buildbauten (2007-2009)

43. Anton Repponen, Misplaced New York (2016)

44. Andy Warhol, Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962)

45. Katsushika Hokusai,The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 19th centuryLluís J. Liñán, Copyright in the Bazaar: Scattered Squares (2017)

46. Ronchamp, Zhengzhou (1994-2000s)

47. Ashton, Raggatt and McDougall (ARM), Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (2001)

48. Left: Zaha Hadid Architects, Wangjing SOHO (2014). Right: Meiquan 22nd Century (2016)

49. All (+1) Instagram variations of Vanna Venturi’s House

50. In the universe of social media, the value of an
original is defined by the number of its copies and
variations.

51. Chapter 3
Post-Digital Surfaces

53. Christopher Hermelin (2013)

54. Post-Digital refers to:
- The disenchantment with digital information
systems and media gadgets;
- The rejection and at the same time the continuation
of the trajectory of the so-called digital revolution;
- The eradication of the distinction between “old” and
“new” media;
- Practices that repurpose older media in relation with
newer ones;
- The opposition between DYI and corporate cultures;
- The messy state of media, design and the arts after
their digitalisation.

55. Henri Rousseau, A Centennial of Independence (1892)

56. Roy Lichtenstein, Magnifiying Glass (1963)

57. Evolution of representation techniques in the work of Zaha Hadid Architects (1982, 2000, 2009, 2015)

58. BIG, UNStudio, H&dM, David Chipperfield, David Adjaye, Norman Foster, Stefano Boeri, Jean Nouvel

59. Left: Foster and Partners, Battersea Power Station (2014). Right: Fala Atelier, House in Rua do Paraiso (2017)

61. Exhibitions of digital collages in Italy between 2014 and 2018

62. Show it Better, Post Digital Interior Architecture Drawing Tutorial (2018)

64. Carmelo Baglivo, Strutture (2012-2018)

65. Baglivo Negrini Architetti, Lorenteggio New Library (2018)

66. Luca Galofaro, Roma Sparita (2013)

68. Luca Galofaro,The Anti Library (2018)

72. In the universe of social media, the fundamental
architectural dimension is not the physical space of
the building, but the digital surface of the screen.

73. Chapter 4
The 140 Characters Icon

74. Katsushika Hokusai,The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 19th centuryGuggenheim Helsinki Design Competition, Stage One Submissions (2014)

75. Katsushika Hokusai,The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 19th centuryDenise Scott Brown, Las Vegas Every-Day Architecture, Unknown (1966)

76. OMA, Dubai Renaissance (2006)

77. Madelon Vriesendorp, iconic map of Foster & Partners, 30 St Mary Axe (2004)

78. Katsushika Hokusai,The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 19th centuryForeign Office Architects, Yokohama International Passenger Terminal (2002)

79. Katsushika Hokusai,The Great Wave off Kanagawa (1823-29)

80. Elenberg Fraser Architects, Premier Tower (2016) designed after Beyonce’s “Ghost” video (2014)

81. BIG,The Spiral (2016)

82. Mecanoo, National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts (2018)

83. Andreas Angelidakis, Cloud House (2003)

84. René Magritte,The Treachery of Images (1929)

86. In the universe of social media, (iconic) architecture is
not anymore a tool for thinking, but for convincing.

87. Chapter 5
Text description provided
by the architects

88. BIG,The Spiral (2016)

90. When an honest man speaks, he says only what he
believes to be true; and for the liar, it is
correspondingly indispensable that ne considers his
statements to be false. For the bullshitter, however, all
these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true
nor on the side of the false (…). He does not care
whether the things he says describe reality correctly.
He just picks them out, or makes them up, so to suit
his purpose.
Harry Frankfurt, On Bullshit (2005)

91. Spiral shapes appear in nature as the inevitable result of dynamic forces applied
to matter.That’s why we find spirals all over the universe, from the construction
of galaxies to the threads of human DNA. But it’s the spiral’s immaculate
geometry, and the suggestion of the infinite, that has mesmerized us in all
cultures, across time and place.
In 1916, in New York, another force, the voice of the people, was being applied to
the growing city.Their demand for daylight at street level, was requiring the
buildings to step back as they reached towards the sky.
On Manhattan's West Side, we bring together the spiral form, and the New York
skyscraper, to create The Spiral: a new tower that stands out among its
neighbours, yet feels completely at home.
The Spiral will punctuate the Northern end of the Highline, the linear park will
appear to carry through into the spiral of the tower, forming an ascending ribbon
of lively green spaces, extending the Highline, into the skyline.
A building designed for the people who occupy it, the spiral ensures that every
floor of the tower opens up to the outdoors creating hanging gardens and
cascading atria, that connect the open floor plate of the ground floor to the
summit into a single, uninterrupted work space.
And of course… these majestic views of the surrounding city!

92. Spiral shapes appear in nature as the inevitable result of dynamic forces applied
to matter.That’s why we find spirals all over the universe, from the construction
of galaxies to the threads of human DNA.
In 1916, in New York, the demand for daylight at street level, was requiring the
buildings to step back as they reached towards the sky, and so the New York
skyscraper was born.
On Manhattan's West Side, we bring together the spiral form, and the New York
skyscraper, to create The Spiral: a new tower.
The Spiral will punctuate the Northern end of the Highline.
A building creating hanging gardens and cascading atria, that connect the open
floor plate of the ground floor to the summit.

93. Archdaily, Post on Mecanoo’s National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts (17.10.2018)

94. Archdaily statistics (2018)

98. Information is a set of imperatives, slogans, directions
– order-words. When you are informed, you are told
what you are supposed to believe. In other words,
informing means circulating an order-word. (…) And
outside these orders and their transmission, there is
no information, no communication.This is the same
thing as saying that information is exactly the system
of control.
Gilles Deleuze, What is the Creative Act? (1987)

99. Social Media
Web Platforms
Web Magazines
Magazines
Journals
Books

100. Opinions
Public Relations
Advertising
Journalism
Criticism
Theory

101. Opinions
Public Relations
Advertising
Journalism
Criticism
Theory
Social Media
Web Platforms
Web Magazines
Magazines
Journals
Books

102. Opinions
Public Relations
Advertising
Journalism
Criticism
Theory
Social Media
Web Platforms
Web Magazines
Magazines
Journals
Books
{}Discourse

103. In the universe of social media, new formats have to
be invented so to adapt different types of languages to
different types of media.

104. Chapter 5
One Designs to Find
Comrades

105. Hans Haacke, Shapolsky et al. Manhattan Real Estate Holdings, a Real-Time Social System, as of May 1, 1971

106. All architects and critics tell stories that have certain
meanings in certain cultures in the hope that these
stories will be attached to, or amplified by, the built
environment; that buildings will somehow voice their
story.
Mark Wigley, “Story-Time” (1995)

107. Office for Political Innovation, Cosmo (2015)

108. Rafael Viñoly, 432 Park Avenue (2015)

109. Rafael Viñoly, 432 Park Avenue (2015)

111. Office for Political Innovation, Cosmo (2015)

112. Office for Political Innovation, Cosmo (2015)

113. Office for Political Innovation, Cosmo (2015)

114. Joseph Kosuth, One and Three Chairs (1965)

115. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, "Untitled" (Public Opinion) (1991)

116. A public is a space of discourse organised by nothing
other than discourse itself. (…) It exists by virtue of
being addressed. (…) Public discourse says not only
“Let a public exist”, but “Let it have this character,
speak this way, see the world in this way”. It then goes
out in search of confirmation that such a public exists,
with greater or lesser success - success being further
attempts to cite, circulate, and realise the world
understanding it articulates.
Michael Warner, Publics and Counterpublics (2002)

118. Luca Silenzi, Know your [Archi-]Meme (2012)

119. Architecture is only ever discourse about building.
Every action, every seemingly humble operation of
architectural practice has to be understood in this way.
Mark Wigley, “Story-Time” (1995)

120. In the universe of social media, designing becomes
editing and architectures become publications.

121. Chapter 5
Post-Internet Spatialities

122. Superstudio, Supersuperficie (1971)

124. Left: Andreas Angelidakis, Hand House (2010) Right: Aristide Antonas,The House for Doing Nothing (2015)

125. The new technology takes the ability to
simultaneously occupy multiple spaces that was
introduced by radio at the beginning of the twentieth
century to whole new levels. It offers precise
spatialities that are portable and can be combined or
turned off and on or pushed to the background. It is
not that physical space is unemployed. Each element
of physical space now performs differently, and spaces
get complicated and multiplied as they are
experienced online.
Beatriz Colomina & Mark Wigley, Are we Human? Notes on an Archaeology of
Design (2017)

126. Elevator as identity-making space

127. Bed as workplace

128. House as broadcasting studio

129. Fnatic Gaming House (2015)

130. Fnatic Gaming House (2015)

131. Fnatic Gaming House (2015)

132. Vitality Gaming House, Digital Home (2018)

133. Vitality Gaming House, Physical home (2018)

134. Space Caviar, RAM House (2015)

135. A new generation of architects is now being asked by
their young clients to design spaces that will look
good on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Even
competitions, such as the MoMA PS1 Young
Architects pavilion, take into consideration how
“Instagrammable” the winning design will be. Any
building will be experienced far more often in social
media than in the streets and the encounter in the
streets is already shaped by social media.
Beatriz Colomina & Mark Wigley, Are we Human? Notes on an Archaeology of
Design (2017)

139. Parasite 2.0, MAXXI Temporary School: The museum is a school. A school is a battleground (2016)

140. Parasite 2.0, MAXXI Temporary School: The museum is a school. A school is a battleground (2016)

142. Data, sounds, and images are now routinely
transitioning beyond screens into a different state of
matter.They surpass the boundaries of data channels
and manifest materially. (…) But if images start
pouring across screens and invading subject and
object matter, the major and quite overlooked
consequence is that reality now widely consists of
images; or rather, of things, constellations, and
processes formerly evident as images.
Hito Steyerl, Too Much World: Is the Internet Dead? (2013)

143. Left: Andreas Angelidakis, Neen World (2002-2003). Right: Andreas Angelidakis, Blue Wave (2005)

144. Wizard Keen (Adam Clarke), Climate Hope City (2015)

145. BIG, Serpentine Pavilion (2016)

146. Federico Delfrati, Around the World in 80Mbps (2018)

147. Architecture is dead - dead beyond recall, killed by
the printed book, killed because it is less durable (…)
A book takes so little time in the making, costs so
little, and can reach so far. (…) And even if, by some
fortuitous accident, architecture should revive (…) she
will have to submit to those laws which she once
imposed upon literature.The respective positions of
the two arts will be reversed.
Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris (1831)

148. Architecture is dead - dead beyond recall, killed by
the printed book, killed because it is less durable (…)
A book takes so little time in the making, costs so
little, and can reach so far. (…) And even if, by some
fortuitous accident, architecture should revive (…) she
will have to submit to those laws which she once
imposed upon literature.The respective positions of
the two arts will be reversed.
Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris (1831)

149. In the universe of social media, this doesn’t destroy
but becomes that.

150. Iwan Baan, New York after Hurricane Sandy (2012)