Midwives of architecture - Scaffoldings and Falseworks as Agents in Architectural Photography

Abstract

Architectural photography has always concentrated on the building itself, even when looking at the construction sites. This contribution wants to put forward the role of the auxiliary structures of scaffoldings and false works, which have played a significant role within the production of images of architecture from the beginning of the new medium until after World War II, and regaining interest within the artistic world today. This article gives an overview of the past 180 years of photographic production concentrating on images from Vienna, Paris, London, Scotland, Switzerland and Rome, which all in their singular existence proof the desire and the wish of the photographer and furthermore designers and artists to emphasize on the presentation –more than on the becoming architecture– of the auxiliary structure, which I interpret as midwives1 for and in special cases as prosthesis of architecture.