#ArchinectMeets is a series of interviews with members of the architecture community that use Instagram as a creative medium. With the series, we ask some of Instagram’s architectural photographers, producers and curators about their relationship to the social media platform and how it has affected their practice.
Social media has undeniably affected the way we perceive, interpret and share opinions about architecture today. While we use our own account, @Archinect, as a site for image curation and news content, we wanted to ask fellow Instagram users how they navigated the platform.
We spoke to Phil Donahue, the photographer behind @phdonohue. Donohugh is based in Los Angeles, a city made up of quick structures with short life spans. His task as a photographer has been to capture the city's most timely and ephemeral designs before they vanish in the sands of time. 1980s fast food chains and strip malls have been of particular interest to the photographer, as they might reflect at once a desire to get things done quickly and at another to get them done with uniquely time-sensitive panache.
View this post on Instagrambonaventure hotel, john portman, 1976 | downtown los angeles
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What is your relationship to architecture?
It’s an unrequited love for a skill set I wish I had. I wanted to be an architect — that was sort of my dream job as a kid. Unfortunately, I quickly realized that I lacked any architectural ability or vision outside of my appreciation.
View this post on Instagraml frances smith elementary school, john m. johansen, 1969 | columbus, in
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What have you hoped to communicate about architecture or the built environment through your posts?
I seek qualities that are disappearing, qualities that represent a feeling that, unless captured, would be lost to time — although the quality of that feeling itself is up for debate. Still, it’s not my intention to simply traffic in nostalgia. There’s a huge disconnect between appreciating an aesthetic and confronting the sometimes banal realities of the built world and how we culturally discard that which we supposedly revere.
Where are you based? How much is your photographic sensibility influenced by your location?
I’m based in the Greater Los Angeles area. For better or worse, Los Angeles is a constant source of influence. It’s endless municipalities and rich architectural history allow for endless interaction with celebrated and overlooked spaces. Blue cloudless skies are also an unavoidable influence on my work, so I’ve been seeking more scenic pastures of late.
View this post on Instagramindio fashion mall | indio
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Has Instagram (or social media in general) affected your views toward the profession?
It has allowed me to connect with people with a common eye, while expanding my personal and practical knowledge of the profession itself. Broadly speaking I think social media has had a net positive effect on architecture. It has helped buffer a sometimes pedantic view of architecture that seems to reject the people it’s intended for.
View this post on Instagramtaco bell simulacrum | tustin
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