Architecture of Manga

The reading for class this week was “Straight” Women, Queer Texts: Boy-Love Manga and the Rise of a Global Counterpublic by Andrea Wood, which presented me with a very difficult task when it came to a discussion topic. So far each reading has referenced architecture or design in some way and I have been able to develop that specific theme or concept and generate an interesting post directly relating the reading content to my area of interest. This weeks reading however, was focused solely on the purpose of boy-love manga and how it became popular in Japan and the United States: its content, the target audience, and how manga was applied to other forms of literature. The reading was not largely focused on the surrounding environment, though it was referenced in a sense of ambiance and setting the “mood,” but delving deeper, I have discovered that architecture is very prevalent in manga, and even more so in anime, and other interested bodies have done research on this very topic. In my browsing of the world-wide-web I came across a blog dedicated to “Architecture in Anime.” The blogger is an architecture student that loves anime and the posts are simple gifs or images of architecture as it is presented in anime films or television series. Some examples of her posts are below. The collection of images present in the blog illustrates a variety of architecture representative of Japanese design and style. The characters and cultural teachings are clearly rooted in Japanese tradition and it is only right that the architecture be similarly reflective.

http://architectureinanime.tumblr.com/

My search also turned up an article, Japanese City in Manga, by Michela De Domenico, which is more directly related to this week’s reading. The article talks about how today’s Japanese cities signify modernity in manga through architecture. The buildings displayed in backgrounds and the interiors that frame certain environments portray a sense of tradition in the modern setting of manga. Authors of manga were really focused on driving home the point of traditional, Japanese settings; ensuring readers that manga is a Japanese creation and will forever be rooted in Japanese culture, teaching, and lifestyle. According to De Domenico, representing traditional Japanese architecture and design throughout the manga hones in on the well-rounded traditional, Japanese feeling and understanding. (This is generally applied to manga as a whole. Boy-love manga adds a layer of the “unseen” to bring excitement to its pages for its readers.) http://pendientedemigracion.ucm.es/info/angulo/volumen/Volumen04-2/articulos03.htm

I went into this post thinking I was at a loss and I was not going to be able to keep with my theme, but the research provided by other interested academics proves that everything is intertwined with purpose and meaning. Manga and Anime are very carefully thought out. Every detail, from a facial expression to what a person is wearing to how a scene is cut in such a way to leave room for imagination, plays into each other to develop the story and set-in-stone the plot, characters, and setting. Architecture, though slightly understated, is not by any means an after thought. The authors and artists need to find architectural and design elements that will help to enhance the scene and the scene’s activity. If “traditional” Manga was set in 19th Century England, would it read the same way? Would the audience get the full feel for the intention of manga? Not likely. It would add a heightened awareness maybe, but also a sense of confusion and misunderstanding. It is likely that it would not be as popular today.

Applying “The Zone” to American Shopping

In the article “Self-Styling,” Sarah Nutall focuses on the cultural development and lifestyle of the younger generations in South Africa as it is primarily witnessed in what is better known as the Y Culture. Nutall defines the Y culture as an emergent youth culture in Johannesburg, which moves across various media forms. She talks about how this culture established and developed fashion, lifestyle, social status, and surprisingly architecture. Ad campaigns for fashion, food, and drink in and around this Y culture defined the “cultural members” as exclusive and, in ways, elitist. In enhancing the exclusivity of the Y culture, The Zone in Rosebank, Johannesburg, became the cultures central hub.

The Zone in Rosebank, Johannesburg

The Zone is “…a residential-cum-business district that has been attracting a young hip workforce since the 1980s thanks to a concentration of information technology, travel and tourism enterprises, retail and fashion outlets, cinemas and restaurants.” They way I look at it, The Zone is essentially a mall or shopping outlet, much like outlets we experience in America (other countries as well, but to keep the argument narrowed we’ll stick with America). It’s not just an area for shopping and eating; it’s also a place where people can experience a culture. It’s a grab bag of activities and interactions that some people stand at the heart of while others simply look on in awe.

In comparison, three outlets or open air markets come to mind that are the embodiment of regional cultures. The first two markets are made up of historic architecture that reflects the evolution of their cities and neighborhoods. The third outlet/market is a continuation of a residential area with a very identifiable feel. The third example of comparison is most closely related to The Zone as it’s similarly a residential-cum-business district, but each of the three markets represents an American translation of The Zone.

The first is The Historic Charleston City Market in Charleston, South Carolina. The Market has been a central part of life in Charleston for over 200 years. The Greek Revival-style Market Hall building facing Meeting Street was completed in 1841, and today houses the Daughters of the Confederacy Museum. Behind it, vendors’ sheds stretch all the way to East Bay Street, and are populated by over 100 vendors.

The Historic Charleston City Market in Charleston, South Carolina.

http://thecharlestoncitymarket.com/index.cfm

The second is the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Vermont. The concept of the marketplace originated as early as 1958 as part of a series of urban renewal discussions. During the summer of 1971, a one-day, experimental street fair was held on four blocks of Church Street, and approximately 15,000 persons attended. The success of the street fair was taken as a demonstration of the feasibility of a mall.  Today the retail occupancy has remained at or near 100% and has held steady.

The Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, Vermont.

http://www.churchstmarketplace.com/

The third is the Birkdale Village in Huntersville, North Carolina. Birkdale Village continues and extends the architectural quality of Birkdale. Patterned after the wonderful texture of New England seacoast towns, Birkdale Village brings to the shopping and residential environment a scale and texture that is atypical of either conventional shopping centers or housing communities. Together, they deliver a varied and rich urban experience not found elsewhere in the Charlotte region.

The Birkdale Village in Huntersville, North Carolina.

http://www.birkdalevillage.net/

Each of these outlet-type shopping areas embodies a specific sense of culture and history that defines the surrounding residential and commercial communities. Architecturally speaking, the markets are centered on historical contributions to the cities or neighborhoods in which they are located. The Zone had a very specific aesthetic appeal and character that defined it as the center of the Y culture. In The Historic Charleston City Market, the Church Street Marketplace, and the Birkdale Village, the architects or shop owners all worked together to establish a certain feel in their shopping communities similar to that of The Zone. It is interesting to compare this sense of cultural shopping and see how it is applied on a close-to-home basis. We don’t easily recognize the culture that is built by shopping outlets or markets such as these, but I encourage everyone in this: the next time you do some outlet shopping or you go to a market specific to the city or neighborhood, take a look around and see if you can spot cultural signifiers.

 

Alienated Architecture of the Native American

Through literature and film, American Indians are perceived as aliens in America. They are not wholly respected and they have been used largely as symbols of struggle, turmoil, and strife in the United States. Privileged Americans are taught to believe that Indians are trespassing on our land, when in fact the Europeans that discovered and settled American soil hundreds of years ago are the aliens and trespassers. Due to power and the overthrow of the native people, a majority of the American population has been programmed to think less of the Native American Indians and to pride themselves as above them. Curtis Marez discusses this misrepresentation of Indians as aliens in his article Aliens and Indians: Science Fiction, Prophetic Photography, and Near-Future Visions. He talks largely about the mistreatment of Indians in literature and film and how it is translated into the everyday world; how they are perceived in the every day world as being, in short, wrong.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

L. M. Silko states in her article (referenced by Marez), “to this day the US continues to impose ‘an alien form of government’ on Indian people.” We, if anything, forced Indians into an alien-esque lifestyle and it is evident in all aspects of life, including that of an architectural divide between white Americans and Native American Indians. European settlers arrived at this new land and claimed it as their own even though it was already home to many people; people that had built houses, planted crops, and constructed their own means of transportation. The homes that served multiple purposes for the Native American Indians were simple in design and structure (Figures 1 and 2). They were vernacular in design, meaning they were built using available resources and they were not designed by an architect; they followed strict customs and traditions taught within the Indian culture. In some cases homes were built in natural made shelters like caves in mountains (Figures 3 and 4). They demonstrated a true sense of self-reliance and survival, and the European settlers came in only to essentially take that away from the Native Americans; a disappointing situation from an architectural historian’s point of view.

Today, the culture and lifestyle of Native Americans has become a tourist attraction. People travel, largely to the southwest, in order to observe Native Americans in their “natural habitats.” White Americans are fascinated by the difference in culture through living, art, beliefs, teachings, and on a more current note casino prominence. This culture of observance further adds to the alienation of Native Americans, as well as the focus on Casinos as new staples of Native Americans. Their vernacular and ancestral roots, though evident in their private lives have been lost through translation and the result is general alienation of this race of people. It’s truly an unfortunate situation.

Surveillance in Architecture

People are constantly under surveillance whether they want to be or not. Most cities and buildings are littered with surveillance and security cameras put in place to keep tabs on the masses of occupants. It is not always a bad thing to have a security system in place as it provides safety for everyone, but when does a security system become a little more than just a security system? When does it take on the role of surveillance or, in extreme cases, spy work?

In “An Immense and Unexpected Field of Actions: Webcams, Surveillance, and Everyday Life” J. Macgregor Wise addresses the many applications of surveillance cameras and webcams seen and/or experienced in everyday life. Wise talks about how there are almost always cameras watching us, whether we can see them or not. Webcams and cameras of many sizes have become a staple in the daily routines of a mass majority of people around the world. Cameras used for video chatting, security systems, or simple photography take up a huge part of a person’s daily activities and as a result they have been overhauled and used primarily as a means of surveillance and “spy work.”

In following the theme of this blog, I am curious to see how this representation of surveillance or “spy work” is present in architecture. Around the world, especially in the US, there are large security and protection corporations that are well known by all, but are not necessarily easily found or pinpointed on a map. In the US, Secret Societies and Security Systems/Groups (aka. Governmental Operations) are the backbones of our country. They have their hands in every event and situation, and their eyes in every corner of the country, but they are not recognizable or easily go unnoticed. This “invisibility” or “disappearance” is translated through to the architecture as well. According to AJ Artemel, a blogger through Architizer, there is a style to surveillance and spy architecture, which he talks about in his blog post The Architecture of Surveillance.

“Overall, spy architecture is large, bland, and hidden. That is to say, it doesn’t stand out, and this is on purpose. Very rarely will a starchitect design an intelligence agency headquarters, and very rarely will it occupy the heart of a city. The only exception to this in the US is the FBI headquarters, which occupies a prominently placed Brutalist building in the heart of the nation’s capital.”

(Starchitects are high profile architects. Literally: Star Architects)

When you first hear FBI Headquarters or CIA you think of a large obviously secretive building with hidden rooms, secret doors, and excessive code access; you think of how secret service bases are portrayed in movies with their overpowering sense of dominance and mystery. Unfortunately, the film industry has taken the actuality of surveillance architecture and taken it to the extreme, which is good for the movies but it blurs the reality behind buildings of surveillance.

These “spy” or surveillance buildings are designed and built to blend into their surrounding environment, enhancing their roles as “spy” buildings. Surveillance buildings are not solely or primarily used as training bases, shooting ranges, or undercover operation locations. Though these activities may occur here, the buildings serve greatly as office buildings, which, for some reason, architects have come to understand as requiring a rather bland and uncreative interior design and blocky layout. There are commonalities and character traits shared by all surveillance type buildings, but these barely recognizable characteristics are not enough to establish a building through visuals as surveillance architecture. The buildings that fall into this category are unremarkable and for the most part uncreative. They do not stand apart from the surrounding architectural fabric; their geometric and unornamented facades help them to fade into the backdrop.

Is the idea behind surveillance architecture as a variation of video/camera surveillance a stretch? Possibly, but the significance of surveillance in everyday life and its presence in architecture, as architecture, is evident in today’s society and should be recognized to avoid the common feelings of invasion of privacy.

Destruction of Architecture in Film: Why?

In continuing with the theme of architecture in film, I wanted to focus on the significance of the destruction of architecture in film. In Kathryn Yusoff’s article “Visualizing Antarctica as a Place in Time: From the Geological Sublime to ‘Real Time'”, the aesthetics of destruction as seen through climate change, mapping, and imagery is briefly discussed. Yusoff’s entire article is based on the Larsen B ice shelf collapse in Antarctica from 1993-2000 and how it was used in photography and film to alter time frames and beg the question “what is ‘real time?'” In discussing the aesthetics of destruction, Yusoff focuses on how the art or act of changing can be seen and understood as something of eloquence and excitement. She applies this to the example of the visual of the Larsen B ice shelf breaking off of the main land in expedited time. While intriguing, this use of video changes the danger and long-term affect of destruction  to one of great interest for all viewers.

While discussing this reading in class, the idea of destruction as a prevalent visual in films was brought up as a topic of interest. Discussion was directed more towards why we feel more inclined to see a movie displaying destruction of a city or the planet as opposed to a non-action packed film. What about the destruction of our home is so intriguing to audiences? Obviously, directors are doing something right because films centered on world-end or global destruction reach a larger audience than those sharing a sense of adventure or romantic comedy.

In further discussing the popularity of destruction in film, I began thinking about the destruction of architecture in film. Movies like Iron Man, The Avengers, Independence Day, Ghostbusters, Superman, Spiderman, and many more tend to be focused on how many buildings can be destroyed by the actions of one person or a group of buildings.

In Superman: Man of Steel there is one, long drawn out fight scene where the entire downtown of Clark Kent’s home is obliterated. The image above, used as a promotional image, shows Superman coming through the remains and rubble of his home. In the film, the fight between good and evil is lengthy and repetitive. It makes the purpose of the film seem to be to destroy the city’s architecture, with a hint of Superman as the hero or savior. The only problem with this is that the movie plot loses reality when entire built environments are wiped from the face of the planet and then rebuilt in a matter of days or weeks. Architecture is not something that can be rebuilt as quickly as movies make seem possible. There are codes, rules, and regulations to follow, building permits and contracts to be signed, funds to be raised. Not to mention the intense clean up necessary to rid the area of urban rubble in order to make space for any and all new construction. Though movies rarely specify how much time has passed between the battle and the rebuilt city, the pictured destruction is wiping away hundreds of years of hard work and it would take many years, even decades, to rebuild anything up to its original fabric.

On the more positive end of architectural destruction in film, the Ghostbuster films use the destruction of buildings as a form of symbolism. Action sequences in both GB and GBII might damage buildings, but only once or twice is an entire building destroyed, like when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man steps on the church next to Dana Barret’s apartment building, which is simultaneously destroyed by Zuul. But even in this case, the destruction shown is not as drastic as say that in Avengers or Iron Man 2.

Another blogger, John Cantwell, wrote a blog post on how the architecture and destruction of both Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II was symbolic of the emotions expressed by the characters. His focus was more towards the political significance of architecture, landscape, and the surrounding props, and how the characters interacted with all aspects of the city in the film in order to get a message across to the audience. Cantwell suggests that any major destruction is a result of the Ghostbusters’ anti-government or anti-policy belief system. In the first movie, the Ghostbusters’ first job is at a prominent hotel for the rich and famous where they, quite unnecessarily, trash the ballroom to catch one ghost. Cantwell reads into this as their way at getting back at the “hoity-toity” attitude of those that find themselves better than the Ghostbusters; a way of sticking it to the man. In the second movie, this is repeated when the Ghostbusters, now experienced ghost hunters, trash the court room at the beginning of the film in trying to catch two ghosts. Another, non-architectural method of making a statement is when the Statue of Liberty is walking through the streets of New York and crushes a Police Car. All of this is analyzed by Cantwell as a way to make it known to the audience and the political systems in the movies that the Ghostbusters make their own rules and bow to no one.

http://johncantwell.tumblr.com/post/124228232/ghostbusters

In comparing the two films, I much prefer the symbolic destruction of a building or two to the obliteration of whole towns. I could be biased since Ghostbusters is among my top ten favorite films, but in my opinion movies like Superman act too much on the end of the world ideas and theories. The overall plot of Ghostbusters is similar, but through architectural demolishment, it’s more suggestive of life being tough and full of struggle, but it’s manageable and we can get through it.

Architecture in Film

“In some films, a house, castle, or high-rise apartment quietly rounds out the characters’ personalities. In others, the set is key to the plot. Then there are movies where the location becomes the whole point of watching.” – Architectural Digest

Architecture plays an important role in the film industry. It is used to set the tone and plot of a film. Architecture that truly fits the era and character of a movie helps bring that movie to life and add a sense of reality to the characters and the viewing audience. Cuauhtemoc Medina wrote an article discussing the use of architecture in the film industry. His article was specific to the use of 1980’s contemporary architecture in Mexico City and how it was incorporated into the 1990 version of Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The buildings used and the scenes created in the movie helped define the authoritarian view and power of state understanding portrayed by the film plot. Medina recognizes how the architecture used in Total Recall was not accidental but carefully chosen to fit the overall futuristic scene of the film. The architecture added a sense of realism to the film and made the audience feel like they were a part of the action.

In applying the importance of architecture as defined by both the Architectural Digest and Medina, I want to explore how one building of a specific architectural design can be used to depict many variations of story lines and eras over many years of film production. The building that I think best represents this grab bag of architectural film stories is the Biltmore Estate.

Construction of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina was completed in 1895. George Washington Vanderbilt II built the Châteauesque-styled mansion and estate, and for more than 100 years it has stood as the largest privately owned house in the United States. Not only does it stand as a symbol of rich, southern living, but also as an elemental feature in film architecture. Twelve different films over the past 70 years have been filmed at the Estate covering a range of eras, plots, character styles, and period settings. According to the Biltmore Estate website, the movies set at the estate include Tap Roots 1948, The Swan 1956, Being There 1979, The Private Eyes 1980, Mr. Destiny 1990, The Last of the Mohicans 1992, Richie Rich 1994, Forrest Gump 1994, My Fellow Americans 1996, Patch Adams 1998, Hannibal 2000, and The Odd Life of Timothy Green 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though it is not evident in the film posters, each movie used the estate or mansion to fit the theme and concept of the plot differently. The mansion itself largely portrayed a wealthy character and lifestyle, but how it played into the different time lines was seen differently in each film. Some of the films focused heavily on the landscape of the Biltmore Estate, utilizing the trees, creeks, bridges, and gardens that make up the many acres that accompany the mansion, setting the backdrops for action scenes or romantic meetings. However each film made use of the Biltmore Estate, this single form of architecture was able to serve multiple purposes for 70 years and will continue to be operative in the film industry. Some might think the style of the Biltmore Estate mansion will be outdated as we delve deeper into the contemporary era upon us, but films set in the future keep roots in the history of architecture and will somehow continue to keep buildings like the Biltmore Estate alive in filming.

Women in Architecture

In his article, “Do Images Have a Gender”, David Joselit introduces several questions to his readers regarding gender and art. “How do images exert power? Must they behave like humans in order to gain agency? And if so, are they gendered?” Joselit discusses this issue of gender in art as perceived by both the artist and the audience asking who applies gender and sex to an image, whether it is through the media, fine arts, graphics, etc. His article concludes that “the power of images lies in this ‘trans’ (transivity, transgendered)…this ‘trans’ that, in simultaneously rendering gender as a process and undermining the commodified solidity of things, is one of the great accomplishments of feminist art.”

After reading the article, I wanted to apply Joselit’s theory of gender-in-art to architecture and design. Architecture, like art, can be made to look more feminine or masculine, but successful architecture, and the more contemporary style of today, better fits this transgendered view of art. All architects work to make different spaces and/or buildings appeal to a larger audience and client base, but the women in the profession are greatly slighted in appreciation and respect for the art.

An annual survey on women in architecture was conducted three times over by the Architect’s Journal. The survey collected data on the roles women play in the architectural field and how those roles have changed over the years. The survey was first conducted in 2011 and results showed that the percentage of women in architecture had fallen. Women’s participation was lacking in the fieldwork as well as the office, or support, work. Architecture has evolved into a “man’s job” and it’s high time that this stereotype be broken.

2011 Survey Results and Data.

Infographic: Women in Architecture

Frederika Whitehead, a writer for The Guardian, wrote an article in January of 2014 about women in architecture to keep an eye on in 2014. Whitehead wanted to enlighten the most recent results of the Architect’s Journal survey, which were deemed “depressing”, by spotlighting 10 women whom have made a difference in the architectural world. The purpose of this article is to remove the gender stereotypes of architecture and make the world understand that it is not a man’s “game”, but that it is, in fact, a non-sexual field of art and design. Women are really stepping forward in the field of architecture. They are breaking out of their current interior design/decoration boundaries and make a name for themselves in the built environment and urban fabric around the world. Women taking action in architecture breaks the gender traits associated with architecture. Buildings will no longer look like the architect behind the project. As seen in the below image, as well as other images in the article, women produced architecture that represents the purpose and the environment. Much like men, a woman’s design is applicable to people from all walks of life further enhancing this transgendered view on architecture. The whole field of architecture and design is sexist, but as time progresses things will change.

Hadid is indisputably the most famous female architect working in Britain today. In 2004, she was the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize for a pavillion she built in Zaragoza, Spain. She also won the Stirling Prize in 2010 and 2011.

10 Women in Architecture to Watch in 2014

Globalization’s Affect on Architecture and Culture

Zhang Huan, a Chinese artist based in Shanghai and New York, is primarily a performance artist. He uses quasi-religious ritual in order to discover the point at which the spiritual can manifest via the corporeal. In 1998, Huan put on a performance in New York titled Pilgrimage – Wind and Water (fengshui or geomancy) in New York. The purpose of Huan’s performance was to voice his response to a global environment that was quite new to him both physically and culturally. Before his performance, Huan made a short speech addressing his work and the cultural tension found between the east and west:

“We are surrounded by the fear of violence, war, catastrophe, death, drugs, pollution, Aids, and basic human surviving. Human beings have been evolving for thousands of years; modern civilization and technologies have been developed to an unprecedented degree…However, I doubt if human beings have made any progress. Are we really happier than before? Where is our future? Where are our spirit and faith?”

In applying Huan’s view of cultural development to a global basis, I question how globalization has affected the modernity of architecture, as well as the role of the architect. Culture and history are reflected in the architecture of a home or urban community in areas all around the world. Architecture, ranging from the vernacular to the contemporary, has become a staple of ancestral growth and development. It is important that we do not lose sight of how cultural development progressed architecture throughout history. With globalization in architecture becoming the forefront of future design and construction, I fear people are losing site of the origins of architecture and its inspirational elements; how designs not only provided spaces of ease and access, but took on a variation of personification as it captured the spirit of its inhabitants. I am not opposed to modernity; it has developed to a point where it cannot be avoided. However I want to assure that the culture and history of my generation, as well as the generations before mine, are preserved in the architecture around us.

Burj Khalifa, Skyscraper in Dubai.

Robert A.M. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, was interviewed on how globalization is changing architecture. He related his view of how globalization is affecting modern architecture to the world’s tallest building in Dubai. He mentions in his interview how changing architecture affects people differently, “Is it appropriate to build a 25 story or a 50 story office building basically sealed in glass and so forth in a desert setting? Some would say in those countries these are symbols of their rising modernity. But the people…Often the people in the streets see these as alien invaders.” This split view of architecture is seen world wide and perceived differently by everyone, but the future of architecture in a modern sense is unavoidable.

Globalization today represents the extreme end of the globalizing spectrum, but 50 or even 100 years ago the technological developments and designs were seen as products of the future and represented extremity in modernization. The building discussed by Stern (pictured left) is one of many examples of modernization in architecture. It is the beginning of yet another era of modernization and globalization in architecture and as architects continue to establish new construction methods and designs, buildings like this will be erected around the world and the design will continue to evolve into stronger representations of modernization in globalization.

Visual Culture in Architecture and Design

Mark Poster published an article in the Journal of Visual Culture on the connections between visual studies and media studies, or visual studies as media studies.

“Media studies insists on the materiality of the field in a manner that helps to avoid earlier ontological constraints. It opens the field of study to differences within regimes of visuality from the standpoint of the new media or simulacra or virtual, reconfiguring our understanding of past visual cultures. It allows or even promotes the study of machines that see alongside visual regimes of classic art history without necessarily privileging either. I contend that, properly understood, the juxtaposition of an original Vermeer painting with a virtual copy viewed on a computer screen benefits the comprehension of both images.” – Mark Poster

Here, Poster provides an understanding for the development and application of technological advancements to global culture, specifically in the fine and digital arts. But how is this technologically developed culture of the media represented in other areas of visual interest, for example design, and architecture?

Corning Incorporated, the world leader in specialty glass and ceramics, took this idea of visual culture and integrated it with the design and routine of everyday life. Corning Inc. creates and makes keystone components that enable high-technology systems for consumer electronics, mobile emissions control, telecommunications and life sciences. In an effort to appeal to a larger residential and commercial audience, Corning Inc. merged these components with life in the home and at the office and created the potential to have a world centered on this idea of visual culture as the study of images, their impact on society, and on individuals. The technologies established by Corning Inc. will reinvent the visual definition of modern design and architecture. The video provides its viewers with a look into a future built around clean, sleek digital technology from whence visual culture will grow and remain a staple in a person’s everyday life.

As culture and societies around the world become more technologically advanced, the visual culture of architecture and design no longer becomes focused on high ceilings, crystal chandeliers, wooden floors, color schemes, layouts, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, etc. It becomes very involved with what can’t one’s home do? Does your television double as a computer screen? Can you upload work information to any surface in your home? Can the stores you shop at decide what you like to wear for you? It has all become impersonal, yet applicable. We are living in a rapidly developing world and the technological and digital advances in the visual culture, as demonstrated by Corning Incorporated, need to be able to provide to our ever-growing schedules.

Corning Incorporated