Create content. Nowadays, this action has become a kind of mantra in our heads. The clearest example: going to a concert and recording the entire performance to publish it on our social networks. We no longer only consume experiences, but we transform them into material to be shown.

In addition, to this is added the search for visual aesthetics (or what is known as aesthetic). The image must respond to certain codes and convey a specific identity. Not only a “beautiful” image is useful.

This is exactly where the big question arises: if aesthetics increasingly influences what we consume, does it also condition what we inhabit?

The way we interact with architecture has changed. Also, like so many other areas, it has entered the boom of Instagram or TikTok and has become an object of visual consumption. It has even been able to generate its own label of “instagrammable building” thanks to unique facades or spectacular staircases.

Judging this change as good or bad would be to remain in a very basic dichotomous thinking and not take into account all the nuances in between. We can only say that it is a transformation and we have to adapt to it.

Before, to discover a building, we had to go and visit it. At most, we could read about it in a specialized magazine or see it in a documentary. However, now we are presented with one that is on the other side of the world while we scroll waiting for the bus. The relationship has been altered: the first experience we have with a space is often no longer physical, but digital.

Most likely, we don’t know the person who appears in the video, but we play it until the end and listen to what they tell us. Also, on the contrary, we run the risk that after five minutes we have forgotten where the architectural work in question is and never think about it again.

It is interesting to take up the concept of “instagrammable building” and comment that the two characteristics that are repeated in all the constructions that fall into this category are that they are aesthetic and have some easily recognizable element (whether it is a different geometry, singular colors or plays of light and shadow, among others).

Architecture has always sought beauty, which according to each historical period has been one or the other. The difference is in the fact that, in the past, this beauty was contemplated from introspection, while now it is captured and shared with the aim of turning it into viral content with hundreds of likes and interactions .

We could draw a lot more reflections from this and enter into a conversation with diverse opinions. However, there is one idea that deserves to be highlighted. The fact that architecture has become another resource for content creation has allowed it to be brought closer to a much wider audience and to give value to large projects and constructions that would otherwise be limited to specialized publications. Perhaps a video about a random building is someone’s first contact with architecture, arousing an interest they didn’t know they had.

In short, by relating to architecture in this way, we turn it into a gateway to new interests, such as design, urban planning, heritage or even the city where we live. The danger is there when we only focus on the aesthetic part and leave aside all those aspects that we cannot appreciate with the naked eye.