Phillip Reinfeld is a research fellow of the Institute of Media and Design at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. He studied architecture at the “Technische Universität Berlin” and at the Akademie der Bindenden Künste in Nuremberg. From 1999 to 2005 he led the Berlin office Mittig/Reinfeld for art and architecture together with Arne Mittig. In 2003 he received an award for the urban development work ‘Im Osten was Neues’ from the Bundes Deutscher Baumeister (BDB). In 2004 he was involved in the planning of “Netzstadt Mitteland” in Aarau, Switzerland. From 2006 to 2007 he worked as an artistic assistant for the course ‘Architecture and Urban Research a42.org’ at the Akademie der Bindenden Künste in Nuremberg. Since 2006 Reinfeld has been a partner at the BOOM architecture office (former ERA) in Berlin. As an active participant of the Netzwerks Architekturtheorie, Phillip Reinfeld is working on his dissertation titled “bitmapping Space”.
Abstract
Photopology – Bit Mapping Space
The integration of photo technology in smart phones changes the nature of the so-called amateur photography. Pointing out the origin of the environment when the pictures are taken, it is often labeled as “ritual redundant” and “aesthetic deficit” “snapshot photography”. But this classification does not match the specificity of today’s “photographic behaviour”. Millions of photos are made publicly available, shared, categorized by key words and location referenced on online portals and apps such as Facebook, Instagram and tumblr. The traditional function of photography which was “this is how it used to be” is replaced by media and communication-performed actual life moments showing “this is now”.
In the same way the “media pressure” of television, sports stadiums has been transformed into multifunctional broadcasting-optimized arenas, it can be expected that the online image media will enter into the use and construction of future environments. How can architectural designs be initiated in a field of topological interdependencies reaching far beyond the (media) complexity of the traditional genius loci?