I have always been fascinated by Instagram and how people show so much love for other peoples’ selfies. I constantly ask myself: why? When you search “selfie” in Instagram you will see almost 290 million tags posted. Wow that is a lot of faces! Try that search with the term architect and the results seem dismal in comparison (about 10% of the total). As a student of architecture one is constantly looking at images of buildings in magazines and in the real world, whether it is for admiration, inspiration or to broaden your sense of understanding structures and their limits. How does the building impact you and its surrounding environment? You walk down a street and take note of shadows projected by a building, its scale and perhaps your own reflection within a mirrored surface, (great opportunity for a selfie). You experience the materials, the details the proportions and question the intent. Did the architect intend for that window to be there or did function rule? You strive in your own work to advance your design skills by taking these external influences and internalizing them and creating your own unique version.

Once you are out practicing architecture you take pride in your designs and in some cases make extreme efforts to have them published to share with the profession and the world. Are these magazine submissions an architect’s selfie? Wouldn’t it be incredible if we could make it possible for people to approach a building and push a heart, comment, share or save button? The ultimate insta-archigram! Architects take such great joy in their creations and want others to enjoy them as much as they do. It is their identity or self image. I have read in different blogs about the power of the selfie so let’s put that power towards an architect’s selfie.