How does social media influence building design?

How do the masses perceive public space?

How does SOCIAL MEDIA affect public spaces? In recent years, social media has grown to be a part of our lifestyle. However, will it be a useful tool for designers? Let’s find out.

In recent times, every space inside a building has to be ‘Instagrammable’ in order to attract public interest. There is a similar way of thinking among architects, directors and photographers. On the top of their minds, they’re always considering, ‘WHAT will visitors see when they are looking at the building? WHEN do they go inside the building? HOW can we surprise them?’

The element of surprise has been the key to building design especially in the rise of the digital world. The ‘WOW’ factor of public spaces have been the main attraction that lures visitors and with the use of social media platforms, it is easier to promote ones building to visitors.

As social media users like to display that they are up with current trends and visiting the popular places, with the right design and proper promotions, a public space is able to attract visitors that will post up photos of the location and in turn increasing the exposure of the place. Trends like these are able to help increase the footfall to rural areas and revive dying ones.

'We are speaking about the new generation”

With new social platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, Weibo & etc, everybody has free access to everything they need. And this helps to convey architecture designs to the public, making it more digestible for the masses. Architects and designers are able to educate the public on designs and spatial layouts. In return, designers are able to collect real time data from building users based on their reaction posted online. Those data are precious as it helps designers to improve the design of their future projects.