#Mcgillarchitecture: design education in the age of instagram Annmarie Adams, McGill University, Canada Basem Eid Mohamed, Abu Dhabi University, UAE ABSTRACT Instagram, the online mobile photo-sharing social networking service, appeals to architects and architecture schools because of its emphasis on high-impact visual images. Architects and students frequently post images of their work, from in-process drawings and models to full-scale buildings, providing unprecedented public access to the design process. From the perspective of an accredited architectural school, we argue that Instagram has rich potential to connect to other architecture schools, expose student work to a global audience, and reach out to donors in new ways. In general, we note Instagram’s power to enhance the profile of the profession, nationally and internationally, through what we describe as the academic “selfie”—a mode of exposing architecture school culture via Instagram.
THE RISE OF INSTAGRAM Instagram, the online mobile photo-sharing social networking service founded in 2010, has a particular appeal to architects and architecture schools because of its emphasis on high-impact visual images. Architects and students frequently post photographs of their work from in-process drawings and models to full-scale buildings, providing unprecedented public access to the design process (the estimated number of Instagram users is now 300 million, http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/10/not-a-fad/). For example, in its most predictable usage by architects, the Instagram account of high-profile firms like Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) showcases their best projects in perfect lighting conditions or in use by happy clients. This image of the firm’s Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, California, for example, shows the church glowing “like a lantern”. For those of us old enough to remember the power of magazines such as Progressive Architecture, these photos recall the marketing oomph of a good centerfold in that glossy and influential magazine. In this guise, Instagram is truly what one architectural critic has called “a more perfect version of everyday life.” The non-architectural equivalents would be the gorgeous meal, the perfect outfit, the beautiful child, the flawless flower petal – Instagram is full of such idealized images. According to SOM website, the firm has recently won a social media award from the New York chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS-NY). The organization’s 2015 Marketing Communications Awards program recognizes the firm’s Instagram account, @skidmoreowingsmerrill, in its social media category. OMA New York takes the opposite approach, posting less staged/contrived pics such as construction photos of its Faena Hotel at Miami Beach. These