Abstract

In this essay, I wish to elucidate the specific function architectural photography has for the experience of buildings. With photographs, the image character of buildings can be discovered and represented, and thereby the nature of habitation can be revealed as well. Taking or contemplating pictures of habitable rooms one could learn that habitation is primarily perceptional—a character mostly concealed by the dominance of everyday practice. In order to give an impression of the manifold possibilities architectural photography holds, I discuss the work of five quite different photographic artists, namely Julius Shulman, Yutaka Saito, Candida Höfer, Cy Twombly, and Yasuhiro Ishimoto.