G1.3.Ex5

Architecture and Social Media: Inference + Education

Shijia Chen + Theresa Phillips | Samer Akkach | Design Research | 2024

ISSUU Link: https://issuu.com/tpliis/docs/g1.3.e5

The use of social media for architecture is becoming more common place in the modern day. What we visually consume influences our opinions, thus the type of architectural designs we see on social media are what the public is going to assume is good architecture. Algorithms and aesthetics are notoriously used by platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram, which are mainly used for sharing architectural designs. As social media is being utilized more with architecture, the use of it within architectural education would help to further improve students skills and understanding of the field.

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Summery

Introduction

Social media is brainwashing us into believing what we visually consume is good design. Social media, introduced in the early 2000s, is primarily used for communication and viewing media content.1 The connection between social media and design is tangent as it is a great source of inspiration for many designers, especially platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest. Everyone has access to social media, and often use it for research, inspiration, and showcasing work. Through algorithms and aesthetics, the public has come to believe that the architectural designs they see on social media is what is considered good. There is an existing connection between social media and the field of architectural education, which has a profound impact on students in that field of study. In the process of architectural design education, social media has provided an unprecedented number of design cases and style references, and the efficiency of algorithm filtering content has made it an indispensable part of the design and education process, but it also brings major challenges. Students, like designers, are increasingly relying on social media platforms to learn about the latest design

trends, getting inspiration and learning from study cases. In the process of architectural design education, students pay attention to visual appeal and deeper experience in architectural practice.

1. Anonymous, 2023, What is Social Media, article, McKinsey & Company, https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/whatis-social-media#/ accessed 3 April 2024.

figure 1:

Are We Human?

Mark Wigley notes that social media is the ultimate space for design, this includes the architectural field.2 Platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram are known to be some of the leading sites used for design based media content, which are often sources for inspiration by architects, students and the public in general.3 However, due to the heavy reliance of algorithms and aesthetics, in such platforms, the creation of bias opinion on what is considered to be good architectural design is being implanted into the public opinion, which are most likely to have little understanding of the workings behind architectural design process. The bias opinion does, however, contribute to the design realm as it can be utilised in architectural education and studies. Students are able to learn from the content the is being pushed by the algorithms, further developing their design skills and concept development. Utilising the popular aesthetics will also help students to inform and inspire their designs, learning what styles are trending and visually pleasing amongst a range of people and communities. This helps to demonstrate that social media should not just be used and focused on commercial benefits but can also

have social and educational benefits within the architectural community.

figure 2:

2. Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley, 2016, ‘Design in 2 Seconds’, in Are We Human? Notes on an Archaeology of Design, (Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers), 257-275.

3. Andrew Arnold, 2018, Instagram Worthy: How Social Media Has Reshaped Our Ideas on Attractive Design, article, Forbes, https://www. forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2018/03/29/instagram-worthy-how-socialmedia-has-reshaped-our-ideas-on-attractive-design/?sh=401f893d4792, accessed 4 April 2024.

Mark Wigley notes that social media is the ultimate space for design, this includes the architectural field.4 Platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram are known to be some of the leading sites used for design based media content, which are often sources for inspiration by architects, students and the public in general.5 However, due to the heavy reliance of algorithms and aesthetics, in such platforms, the creation of bias opinion on what is considered to be good architectural design is being implanted into the public opinion, which are most likely to have little understanding of the workings behind architectural design process. The bias opinion does, however, contribute to the design realm as it can be utilised in architectural education and studies. Students are able to learn from the content the is being pushed by the algorithms, further developing their design skills and concept development. Utilising the popular aesthetics will also help students to inform and inspire their designs, learning what styles are trending and visually pleasing amongst a range of people and communities. This helps to demonstrate that social media should not just be used and focused on commercial benefits but can also have social and educational benefits within the architectural community.

5. Andrew Arnold, 2018, Instagram Worthy: How Social Media Has Reshaped Our Ideas on Attractive Design, article, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2018/03/29/ instagram-worthy-how-social-media-hasreshaped-our-ideas-on-attractive-design/?sh=401f893d4792, accessed 4 April 2024.

figure 3:

Primary Sources (still editing)

Richard Florida points out that the creative industry is composed of many fields such as design, art, and creative works. This not only impacts art or aesthetics but also serves as a catalyst to enrich the social and cultural structure. This not only impacts art or aesthetics but also serves as a catalyst to enrich the social and cultural structure.

Marshall McLuhan and Gerd Leonhard believe that social media has the ability to reshape humans and the way they view and understand design. Marshall also mentions a greater emphasis on visual and dissemination effects, leading design to lean more towards the aesthetics and demands of social media. Richard mentions social media provides a platform for showcasing, communicating, and promoting the creative industry, facilitating the dissemination and development of creativity. Though, he also believes that social media is becoming a powerful tool for showcasing and promoting creative design, influencing people’s perspectives.

Gerd claims that most companies and organizations will need to undergo a transformation as technology, including social media, will impact

them across the board. As part of social media and technology, algorithms are introduced. Eli Pariser has stated that the internet provides users with personalized algorithms, creating a “filter bubble” that predominantly displays content relevant to their interests. This leads to biases, information narrowness, and singularity. Over time, this restricts people’s exposure to diverse viewpoints and information, as well as weakens their perspectives on alternative views.

Gerd mentions technology has no ethic, nor should it. This leans into the topic of algorithms. We have become dependent on allowing our thinking to software and algorithms because we believe it to be faster and convenient, but this leads to manipulation of ideas and a loss of control in knowing what may be AI anticipation or not.

still to be referenced

Secondry Sources

Ji Young Cho and Moon-Heum Cho’s article states that social media is dynamic, interactive, democratic, open, social and adaptive, and students are using these characteristics of social media to improve the efficiency of early design research. This is also mentioned by Man Gao, who points out that the academic field is using social media to achieve design that focuses on efficiency and novelty, supporting creativity and innovation. Cho wrote that social media is interactive and open, which can achieve collaborative tasks and collaborative learning, which can also be transferred to workspaces and design, saving time through online exploration. Cho said that the study of social media and design in daily life is not completely separate. Social media is often used in design, which shows its connection with our daily life because design is a ubiquitous part of our learning and life. Arvind Narayanan’s article argues that algorithms are not the enemy, but an integral part of social media, just like subscriptions and networks.6 Algorithmic recommendations are good at providing people with niche content that they are interested in.7 Arvind also said that the precise push of algorithms

reinforces users’ recognition of content. Li mentioned that in design, landscape designers have a variety of design techniques, but clients prefer designers to have their own unique design style. Li also said that in the process of forming their own design style, designers need to accumulate targeted research cases and a lot of design practice.8 Vimala Balakrishnan mentioned that students generally use social media to learn in the process of learning in various fields. The process of learning using social media is enjoyable, which enables students to transform passive education into active learning knowledge. Gan Chin Lay also mentioned that social media can promote students to become active learners. Balakrishnan said that students have high potential and enthusiasm to use these social media platforms in the academic field, and academia and higher education institutions should make reasonable use of students’ enthusiasm and encourage or implement policies that make social media a part of teaching activities. Balakrishnan wrote that social media provides many benefits, especially in enhancing communication, collaboration and sharing among users. Social media tools can enhance the interaction between

lecturers and students, students and students, and students and social practitioners, and compared with traditional education systems, because they provide opportunities for connection and collaboration, they have a greater practical impact on students’ understanding of real-time industry dynamics, beyond the book knowledge of traditional classrooms. Balakrishnan also wrote that by improving the social interaction between traditional educators and students, the level of interaction between students and the outside world during the learning process can increase their practical experience and jump out of the thinking.

6. Arvind Narayanan,2023, Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms (Knight First Amendment Institute), 40, https://doi. org/10.7916/khdk-m460.

7. Arvind Narayanan,2023, Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms (Knight First Amendment Institute), 40, https://doi. org/10.7916/khdk-m460.

8. Li Shujuan, Yang Bo, 2022, Social media for landscape planning and design: a review and discussion, Landscape Research, (The Landscape Research Group), 658. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2022.2060953

figure 4:

Architectural Design Bias

We argue that there is a fabricated bias in the public view of what good architecture should look like. Architecture in social media is subjected to the influences of aesthetics and the algorithm. People’s exposure to content on design focused platforms, such as Pinterest and Instagram, are heavily influenced by algorithms, and what popular aesthetics are circulating around. Algorithms are a central part of social media and the content we are exposed to, this is especially true when it comes to research, and work showcasing for architectural design. Algorithms work by using encoded procedures for turning input data into a desired output, according to specified calculations. It is how social media platforms recommends content to its user (figure 5).9 Additionally, social media is influenced by aesthetics, which is often utilised by a range of users. People are exposed to various aesthetic styles and works of architecture on social media, and architects often utilise social media to display their works. Popular aesthetic trends and design concepts spread rapidly on social media, influencing bias opinions from the people on what the definition of good architecture is.10 With the internet providing users with personalized

algorithms, that creates a ‘filter bubble’, mainly displaying content relevant to their interests, this leads to bias, narrow information, and singularity.11 A community of people come to possess a similar, if not the same ideas and opinions on the definition of good architectural design and how it should appear. As time goes on, there is a limit being created to the exposure people have with the different perspectives and information, and thus weakens their views towards other opinions, ideas, and styles. The public has begun to have a hard time thinking logically anymore, instead relying on what they are seeing on Instagram and Pinterest to formulate and inform their bias.12 ‘Pretty and popular go hand in hand’.13 The notion reflects something being aesthetic, ultimately being represented on design based social media platforms. Reflecting on this, aesthetics are present in all, current, media content and are used in tangent to represent or reflect good design. Instagram and Pinterest are often sourced for inspiration as they often cater to popular aesthetic trends. The idea of ‘Instagram worthy’ home is becoming common for younger people, admitting that they seek out décor that would look appealing on social media.14

This further translates into architecture, where many people want something that will look good on their social media. As the public uses aesthetics to inform their choices, it solidifies the notion that there is a bias interpretation on what is good design.

9. Carlos Figueiredo and César Bolaño, 2017, Social Media and Algorithms: Configurations of the Lifeworld Colonization by New Media, ‘Introduction’, IRIE, 28-31, https://doi. org/10.29173/irie277

10. Narimane Hadjadji, Naila Toulan, Medhat Dorram, 2023, Impact of digital architecture: The impact of digital technology on ecological formations and its effect on determinants of identity and culture in architectural design , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jer.2023.09.00.

11. Eli Pariser, 2011, The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You, (New York: Penguin Press)., 1st ed, ()

12. Ziming Feng, Feng Cong, Kailong Chen, Yong Yu, 2013, ‘An Empirical Study of User Behaviors on Pinterest Social Network’, 2013 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Joint Conferences on Web Intelligence (WI) and Intelligent Agent Technologies (IAT), https://doi.org/10.1109/WI-IAT.2013.57

13. Andrew Arnold, 2018, Instagram Worthy: How Social Media Has Reshaped Our Ideas on Attractive Design, article, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2018/03/29/ instagram-worthy-how-social-media-hasreshapedour-ideas-on-attractive-design/?sh=401f893d4792, accessed 4 April 2024.

14. Andrew Arnold, 2018, Instagram Worthy: How Social Media Has Reshaped Our Ideas on Attractive Design, article, Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewarnold/2018/03/29/ instagram-worthy-how-social-media-hasreshapedour-ideas-on-attractive-design/?sh=401f893d4792, accessed 4 April 2024.

figure 5: The workings of the algorithm (redrawn) (Renmin University of China Information Institute, 2022)

Social Media Aiding Architectural Studies

We believe that social media should play a valuable role in architectural education and become a powerful tool for students to strengthen their architectural research. Social media provides architecture students with a wealth of architectural content, including images, videos, articles and discussion groups. This exposure enables students to explore architecture through a variety of channels for architectural style and aesthetics. At the same time, the multiple ways of obtaining learning information also expand their cognition of multi-dimensional knowledge and stimulate students’ creative thinking in architectural design. In the early stage of architectural design, background analysis such as site investigation is required.15 Students use social media research to conduct virtual field visits, obtain information through user comments and photos on the platform, and quickly understand the environment, history and cultural background of the project location.16 This efficient way of obtaining information enables students to better carry out design positioning and program optimization.17 A large amount of information can be found in a short time, and students can quickly

conduct preliminary analysis after screening. It saves pre-preparation time and reserves more time for design, thereby improving efficiency.18 Social media often uses the algorithm’s ‘filter bubble’ to filter push content according to the user’s search and browsing preferences to form a specific aesthetic mode.19 In this case, social media will create a push page related to the architecture students’ contact and browsing experience based on their past online operation experience.20 This specific push page has a design style similar to previous search results, which may limit students’ exposure to diverse architectural design concepts and styles. However, it further consolidates their cognition and recognition of specific styles, and their multi-dimensional in-depth understanding of specific architectural styles, thereby stimulating students to deeply explore and learn a certain architectural concept.21 In addition, social media promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing between students and professional designers in the field of architecture.22 Social media has a strong real-time nature and can show the latest design trends and the cutting-edge discussion process and design results of designers. Social

media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have sufficient architectural design resources. Students can keep abreast of industry trends and communicate with designers to obtain valuable industry insights and feedback opportunities.23 It also enables students to quickly understand the new design techniques and creative ideas on the market. Among them, the discussion and feedback with designers on social media, this collaborative learning opportunity, increases students’ practical experience in architectural professional learning and avoids the theoretical emptiness and practical derailment in architectural theory teaching. This learning model enables students to not only gain something in theory, but also accumulate experience in practical operations, laying a solid foundation for future career development.24 Social media plays an increasingly important role in architectural education. Through rich learning resources, diverse learning channels and efficient knowledge sharing, social media provides valuable learning and research tools for architecture students, enabling them to better conduct architectural design and theoretical research.

15. Ji Young Cho, Moon Heum Cho, 2020, Students’ use of social media in collaborative design: a case study of an advanced interior design studio, Cognition, Technology & Work, (Springer), 904. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10111-019-00597-w

16. Ji Young Cho, Moon Heum Cho, 2020, Students’ use of social media in collaborative design: a case study of an advanced interior design studio, Cognition, Technology & Work, (Springer), 903. http. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s10111-019-00597-w

17. Ji Young Cho, Moon Heum Cho, 2020, Students’ use of social media in collaborative design: a case study of an advanced interior design studio, Cognition, Technology & Work, (Springer), 904. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10111-019-00597-w

18. Li Shujuan, Yang Bo, 2022, Social media for landscape planning and design: a review and discussion, Landscape Research, (The Landscape Research Group), 648–649. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2022.20609

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19. Arvind Narayanan,2023, Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms (Knight First Amendment Institute), 9-10, https://doi. org/10.7916/khdk-m460.

20. Arvind Narayanan,2023, Understanding Social Media Recommendation Algorithms (Knight First Amendment Institute), 12-13, https://doi. org/10.7916/khdk-m460.

21. Li Shujuan, Yang Bo, 2022, Social media for landscape planning and design: a review and discussion, Landscape Research, (The Landscape Research Group), 658. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2022.2060953

22. Balakrishnan Vimala, 2017, Key determinants for intention to use social media for learning in higher education institutions, Universal Access in the Information Society, (Springer), 290. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10209-016-0457-0

23. Vimala Balakrishnan, 2017, Key determinants for intention to use social media for learning in higher education institutions, Universal Access in the Information Society, (Springer), 296-298. https://doi. org/10.1007/s10209-016-0457-0

24. Li Shujuan, Yang Bo, 2022, Social media for landscape planning and design: a review and discussion, Landscape Research, (The Landscape Research Group), 660. https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2022.2060953

Conclusion (to expand on)

Social media algorithms and aesthetics shape public perceptions of good architecture creating a bias outlook. Platforms like Pinterest and Instagram utilise algorithms to recommend content based on user interactions and trends, significantly influencing a users’ view and creating a bias on architectural design. The aesthetics promoted, through these platforms, often emphasize visual appeal, sometimes highlighting superficial elements and skewing public opinion, especially among those outside the architectural profession. Second, we discuss the educational benefits of social media for architecture students. Despite reinforcing certain aesthetic preferences, these platforms offer a wealth of resources that facilitate learning. Students are exposed to diverse architectural styles and innovative ideas, inspiring their projects and broadening their creative horizons. Additionally, social media fosters a collaborative environment where students can interact with peers and professionals, share knowledge, and receive feedback, essential for building a sense of community and continuous learning in architecture.

Reflecting on how social media influences architecture, we can apply Marshall McLuhan’s idea that ‘the medium is the message’ to understand how social media shapes content and interaction. Future research could explore the long-term effects of social media-driven architectural trends on urban environments and cultural heritage, assessing whether these trends align with sustainable practices. Additionally, examining how different demographics use and are influenced by social media can highlight variations in architectural knowledge. Developing algorithms that provide a balanced view of architectural styles could mitigate current biases, offering a more comprehensive understanding of great architecture.

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Bibliography

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