BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

The series of images with the title “Bildbauten“ by architect Philipp Schaerer deals with the effect and the claim to the credibility of images of architecture that appear to be photographed.

BILDBAUTEN by Philipp Schaerer technical information

By means of their exaggerated and orchestrated way of representation, they model themselves on the object – like appearance and the formal language of contemporary architecture in a rather ironic way. All images try to reproduce a reality

– Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN by Philipp Schaerer Photographs
BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN / Philipp Schaerer

© Philipp Schaerer

BILDBAUTEN description by Philipp Schaerer

The rapid development of computer and information technology has fundamentally changed the relationship between image and architecture as well as their perception. In addition to the conventional types of mostly abstract images used until now in the design and planning phases – sketches, plans, elevations or axonometric drawings – a new type of image is now being used: a digitally created image that appears to be a photograph.

In the context of architecture, this type of image has until now exclusively been associated with the image of built architecture. Now, it is increasingly used to let something appear real which has yet to be built. This leads to confusion and challenges the claim to the reality of images that appear to be photographed.

The series of images with the title “Bildbauten“ deals with the effect and the claim to the credibility of images of architecture that appear to be photographed. Frontal views of fictional architectures serve as an example.

Through their exaggerated and orchestrated way of representation, they model themselves on the object – like appearance and the formal language of contemporary architecture in a rather ironic way. All images try to reproduce reality. They are not a photograph; instead, they were newly designed and constructed from scratch using image synthesis and digital image editing.

About Philipp Schaerer

Philipp Schaerer (*1972) architect and bildgestalter, 1994-2000 architectural studies at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), architect and knowledge manager at Herzog & de Meuron (2000-06), supervision of the postgraduate studies Computer-Aided Architectural Design – Chair Prof. Dr. Ludger Hovestadt at ETH Zurich, since 2010 lecturer at several universities, publications, and exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad lives and works in Zurich and Steffisburg/CH.