Under Construction: Mobilising photography in Architectural research
“Under Construction: Mobilising Photography in Architectural Research” — a lecture and methodology workshop for PhD students at ULB Faculté d’Architecture, La Cambre Horta, Bruxelles, led by Sarah Melsens.
Structured through a series of collective readings, discussions, and photo activation exercises, the workshop explored how photography can be mobilised as both a documentation technique and historical source within architectural research. Participants engaged with archival construction photographs through forensic, aesthetic, and civil modes of reading — using colour-coded annotations to trace material details, framing techniques, labour histories, absences, and the afterlives of images.
From reconstructing photographic events to cutting, mapping, drawing, rewriting, and rephotographing archival material, the sessions examined how photographs do not merely document construction, but actively shape narratives, counter-histories, and future ways of viewing the built environment.