Arthur 1

Rosie Arthur
Dr. McLaughlin
WR 13300
16 November 2014
Research Essay
The Growing Development of Social Media & Technology in Architecture
Throughout the past several decades, social media as well as technology has
evolved significantly. Ultimately, the entire concept of social media, also recognized as
Web 2.0, developed from the ideas and concepts of televisual communication. Some of
the same characteristics that make up television also describe social mediathe sequence
or order of elements, the rhythm, and flow of the actual message (Friesen, and Lowe 1)
which all contribute to the visual appearance that both televisual communication and
social media have. Due to the advancements in technology, the use of social media has
grown considerably over the years into what now plays a vital role in the daily lives of
people. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Blog sites and more recent sites
such as Instagram have become increasingly popular. The many advances over the years
in technology has allowed media usage to progressively grow from what was originally a
medium in which people could network into a pathway for businesses and organizations
to expand. Although many businesses and different fields of work have all been affected,
one field in particular that is being shaped by the growing reliance on media and
technology is the field of architecture.
The purpose of this paper is to establish how the field of architecture has taken
advantage of many of the benefits that social media and technology have to offer as well

Arthur 2
as the problems that may arise if architects strictly maximize the use of technology and
social media. This issue is relevant because Social media has turned into one of the most
commonly used mediums of sharing ideas and thoughts. Many businesses and
organizations have integrated the use of social media into their marketing tactics. Even
within the architecture field specifically, social media and media in general has become a
very influential and important part in respect to both marketing and new design aspects.
Advances in technology architecturally in the past several years have changed the way
Architecture is done as well as changed the make-up and focuses of the majority of the
programs designed for an architectural degree. I plan to focus on the many benefits and
different channels in which social media can be used within the field of architecture with
respect to the spread of ideas and communication as well as the different types of new
technology used within the field of architecture that has possibly negatively affected the
way architecture is practiced.
Since social media originally started as a way for people to network, the question
is what about social media made it such a vital source for architecture firms to integrate
into their marketing and expansion of their work. Levy, CEO and owner of ROM
Knowledgeware, explains how the principles driving the design of social media are
based on a more concentrated focus on users and user-generated content, and less on
content as standalone (1). What makes social media such a good medium for architects
to use is based off of the fact that the information provided is circulated more efficiently
throughout the Internet. Social media, which was previously and originally coined as
Web 2.0, is based off of the concept of connecting people to information and
knowledge, as well as connecting people to people (1). While general websites leave

Arthur 3
information sitting with no where to go or to be passed along easily, social media allows
a more client to business interaction as well as the constant passing on and circulation of
information.
One of the most important aspects of social media is its ability to act as a medium
in which people can communicate. Businesses have taken advantage of the advances in
technology by using social media as a channel to communicate with their customers.
David Cowlard, who has worked for leading architectural and design magazines in the
UK, Europe and the US, discusses how even though architectural firms have generally
been slower in adopting social-media practices than have companies in other sectors (1),
there still is progress being made. As architectural firms continue to take advantage of
these growing social media practices, the field of architecture will continue to evolve in
the future. Many architects do have websites that display their work, however, they do
not seem to have much of an influence because the sites are eventually left to fend
themselves, quickly becoming stale and tired (Cowlard 1). On the other hand, it has
been found that there has been huge success in blogs and editorially led websites that
engage with architectural news and theory through various social-media channels (1).
When architectural firms take advantage of the opportunities social media provides their
information is more easily accessible as well as having a better chance of staying in the
spotlight instead of being forgotten.
Many of the websites that architectural firms have found success in include pages
such as ArchDaily and Architizer which are found on Facebook as well as other blog
sites that reach a much wider audience than a general website could allow (Cowlard 1).
Blogging is one of the many social media tools that is used in architectural firms and has

Arthur 4
continued to grow over the years. It has been predicted that, By the end of 2011, NM
Incite, a Nielsen/Mckinsey company, tracked over 181 million blogs around the world,
up from 36 million only five years earlier in 2006 (qtd. in Moore, Stringfellow,
Vecchione and Cordova 115). This report shows how much the role of social media,
blogs specifically, has increased and appears it will continue to grow. Facebook, another
social media tool, which originally started as small networking site, is now one of the
most visited websites worldwide next to Google. Since its creation in 2004, Facebook has
grown from being exclusively available to college students, to the inclusion of high
school students and eventually opened up for any and all users. It continued to develop to
accommodate for the business world. With the addition of the Pages feature to
Facebook, it essentially acts as a profile for organizations or institutions to promote their
presence (Thomsett-Scott 25). These social media practices that architectural firms have
began to use are evidence that a much-wider, well-informed audience is keen to engage
with architectural and design developments (Cowlard 1). Architectural firms are
continuing to realize the many benefits of using social media as a medium to share their
designs, and information to a much larger audience.
Not only do social media sites allow architectural firms to share their own
portfolios and designs, it also provides a way for ideas to be shared virtually along the
world, in much broader aspects than they were previously capable of. Sharon
Vanderkaaya Director of Knowledge Development at Farrow Partnership Architects
Inc based in Torontodescribes architects as interesting people who know a lot about
issues that affect the well-being of society. As holistic lateral thinkers, they see things
that reductivist linear thinkers may miss. Since most of their ideas appear in marketing

Arthur 5
messages, announcements, and conference presentations, Web 2.0 opens up an
opportunity for architecture firms to extend their ideas and designs on an entire new
levela global scale. Cowlard contends how social media is a great way to share ideas
that will ultimately allow architectural firms to gain more perspective and insight on
designs and ideas. Another benefit of social media is the ability to actively [engage] in
ideas and discussion from around the world [that] can bring new life into a practice and
potentially allow its expertise and experience to be shared (Cowlard 2). Social media
ultimately allows architectural firms to gain more ideas and insight that overall help make
them become more well-rounded as well as helping shape the style and concentration of
the firm. New ideas and designs that previously may have not have been able to be
discovered have the capability to be incorporated into projects because of the power of
social media and networking.
In addition to spreading ideas and designs, social media also opens up the
opportunity of consultations between clients and the architectural firms themselves.
Social media plays a big part on how architects and architectural firms are chosen by
clients. In the past, like many other businesses, clients chose their specific architects
primarily based on trusting personal relationships that developed over time
(Vanderkaay 1). With the use of social media and sites like houzz.com, not only can
clients gain access to the track record of different architectural firms, but they can also be
given a better insight to what kind of people they would potentially be hiring within the
firm.
Aside from the advertising aspect of architecture, social media has also begun to
play an important role in the way architecture is evolving to fit the worlds new

Arthur 6
technological advances. Cowlard describes how, after all, architecture and the city are
about how people live their lives and social media have huge potential to open up the
design process (qtd. in Cowlard 2). Architecture incorporates the new, constantly
evolving technology into design in accordance with the needs of the people. Bluma
journalist who has published work about infrastructures, architecture, design, technology,
urbanism, art, and traveldiscusses the adaptations and new pathways architecture has
taken to keep up with the changing world and how the field of architecture still has a lot
to accomplish if they want to keep up. Blum expresses how the impact of media in our
experience of space has entirely transformed (2). What once was a world in which
people paid attention to those around them, is now compromised of an additional
distraction of social media and technology. In response, architects have attempted to
construct their designs in such a way that compliment this shift towards the growing
world of technology and to reflect this new sense of networked media and space (Blum
2). There have been advances and slow progression in architecture because of social
media but there is still plenty to come that will affect the future of the architecture.
Phillips Mahoneythe chief technology editor of Computer Graphics World, a
company that has covered innovation in computer graphics Technology across various
industriesremarks on advances in technology used within the field of architecture for
design. Like in the case of social media, architects took longer to adopt the idea of new
technology and that computer-aided design [CAD] plays an important role in the success
of their practices, especially because of its value as an efficient drafting and modeling
tool (1). Now after being used to the new technology, clients are asking for more and

Arthur 7
more in terms of presentation of their designs. In order to keep up with other firms,
architects are forced to adopt even newer technology.
With the new technology that is being used as tools for design, many architecture
programs are evolving as well to fit to the new needs. Many programs are being designed
to teach students the ins and outs of the programs, and are heavily based on the usage of
technology rather than the drawing and sketching aspect of architecture. Although the
shift towards a more technologically based program seems to be more fitting, many
current architects actually disagree with this recent shift. Peter Lindhout, a well-known
and prominent architecture in the south-eastern part of Michigan, expresses his concern
in the fact that programs, such as the one at University of Michigan, who focus heavily
on the technological aspect are leaving students without the ability to draw well, which
especially comes into play when architects are working with clients and are expected to
perform rough sketches while talking through ideas of what exactly the client is looking
for (Lindhout 15 Jan. 2013). Rev. Richard Bullene, C.S.C., who is the assistant dean at
the University of Notre Dame, also articulates some of the same concerns, saying how
because many of the students are just taught the technological half of architecture, more
and more new architects do not have the ability to draw. Not only does focusing on the
physical drawing aspect of architecture help in dealing with clients, but it also helps
students be able to use the computer programs in much greater detail and with a better
understanding of shading, shadow, and perspective (Bullene 20 April 2012).
Also many programs are switching to a very modern style teaching, as opposed to
the more traditional, or classical style. Although students may be more interested in
modern style, it is important to attend a program that is more traditional and classical

Arthur 8
because that is where all present architecture originated. By learning the fundamentals, or
basics, and having an understanding of past architecture styles, theoretically students will
be able to practice any style because they all stemmed from the traditional and classical
styles.
Some people may in fact argue that the new technological and media advances
have not yet changed and started shaping the future of architecture, as mentioned by
Cowlard earlier. Unlike many businesses and other areas of work that have already taken
full advantage of and made significant gains, the field of architecture has been a little
slower in adopting the new forms of technology and integrating them into architectural
firms. In addition, it may be argued that the shift towards a more technologically heavy
architecture program is a step in the right direction. However, just like any other other
field of work, it is important to remember to refer to the fundamentals, which in the case
of architecture is drawing. The use of new technology is only truly helpful if one does not
completely neglect the basics. Programs cannot continue to immediately jump ahead to
what is new and improvedto new technology, to new modern style of designbecause
they end up leaving huge chunks, the fundamentals of architecture, out.
Ultimately, the progress society has made in regards to both technology and social
media have already begun to evolve the future of architecture. Social media sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, and blogs have proven to be successful channels in which
architectural firms are able to put out their own information and designs, share and
exchange insight on design aspects between firms world-wide, and consulting with
clients. Media and technology has also played an impacting role architecturally as new
technology and the concept of social media and the importance it plays in society today

Arthur 9
have been incorporated into the actual designing of a space and the entire design process.
However, there has proven to be a problem when it comes to technological advances
within the actual field of architecture because many university programs have tended to
focus too heavily on the technological aspect of architecture, which may be detrimental to
future architects.

Arthur 10
Works Cited
Blum, Andrew. "Here but Not here : Architecture has Yet to Acknowledge the Impact of
Social Media on our Experience of Physical Space." Metropolis 30.9 (2011): 42-3.
Print.

Bullene, Richard. Personal Interview. 20 April 2012

Cowlard, David. "Social Architecture." Architecture New Zealand.1 (2013): 74-6. Print.

Friesen, N., and S. Lowe. "The Questionable Promise of Social Media for Education:
Connective Learning and the Commercial Imperative." Journal of Computer
Assisted Learning 28.3 (2012): 183-94. Print.

Levy, Moria. "Stairways to Heaven: Implementing Social Media in Organizations."

Journal of knowledge management 17.5 (2013): 741-54. Print.

Lindhout, Peter. Personal Interview. 15 January 2013

Marketing with Social Media : A LITA Guide. Ed. Beth C. Thomsett-Scott. Chicago, IL,
USA: American Library Association, 2014. Web.

Phillips Mahoney, Diana. "Moving Beyond CAD. (Animation Technology in

Architecture) (Technology Information)." Computer Graphics World 20.6 (1997):
20. Print.

Vanderkaay, Sharon. "The Social Media Evolution." Canadian architect 55.4 (2010): 3940. Print.