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Frontiers of Architectural Research xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Research Article

Game of capitals: Production of influential

online architecture
Xiaoxin Zhao

School of Architecture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Received 27 October 2019; received in revised form 3 March 2020; accepted 5 March 2020

KEYWORDS Abstract The grassroots can become an online influencer with the help of social media. Simi-
Social media; larly, an online influencer mode is applicable in the architecture field. This study introduces
Influential online the term “influential online architecture” (IOA) and aims to understand the cause and promo-
architecture; tion of the IOA phenomenon and its impact on architecture. This research also introduces Bour-
Bourdieu; dieu’s four forms of capital, namely, economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capitals, as a
Social capital; framework to argue that IOA is promoted by capitals through visual spectacles, class divisions,
Cultural capital; national identity, and social recognition. The methodology of this research uses case studies
Symbolic capital and logical argumentation through presentation and analysis of photos, statistical data, and
comments from journals, books, news, and social platforms. The current study concludes that
the online influencer mode in architecture should be concerned because the overemphasis on
capitals through the production of IOA may erode the design field. This research argues that a
well-established architecture criticism and post-occupancy evaluation system and a rational
online influencer mode would contribute to the development of the design domain.
ª 2020 Higher Education Press Limited Company. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on
behalf of KeAi. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction of online influencers, who are also called “wanghong” in

The current new media era is characterized by information
explosion following the expansion of various forms of mass
media. Many online social platforms and live stream plat-
forms have emerged and produced hundreds of thousands
China (Cunningham et al., 2019).
In this new media era, the online influencer phenome-
non involves persuading people and influencing architec-
ture. From the print platform in the past to the current
online platform, media have played a significant role in
architectural culture and ideology (Wang, 2016). For

E-mail address: xiaoxin.zhao@uq.edu.au.

Peer review under responsibility of Southeast University.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
2095-2635/ª 2020 Higher Education Press Limited Company. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi. This is an open access
article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
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2 X. Zhao
example, the “posting culture”1 of Instagram and wide-
spread reports and news have promoted architecture and
urban landscape to become influential online architecture
(IOA) and influential online cities. However, only a few
studies have examined the conditions of IOA from an aca-
demic perspective in the Chinese context (An and Fan,
2019; Fan, 2019; Yu, 2018), and no academic literature on
IOA has been found in the English context. Thus, the cur-
rent study is a novel research for understanding the
emerging IOA phenomenon.
The primary research question of this study is how the
IOA phenomenon emerged and its impact on the architec-
ture field. In particular, this research offers a rational
perspective in reviewing the IOA phenomenon, and aims to
understand the types and characteristics of IOA and the
driving forces and approaches for IOA production. This
research uses the findings to provide suggestions for future
development in architecture.
1.1. Emergence of online influencers
Advertising is an effective approach to make particular in-
formation stand out and attract high attention and capital.
Advertisers exert every effort to broadcast information by
constantly repeating it in various media. In the past, print
media, film, and television used advertising to produce
stars and celebrities. At present, the development of the
Internet has resulted in the development of various forms
of media, from traditional media to self-media.2 In this
context, media and the capital market are experiencing a
move from the traditional celebrity mode to the online
influencer counterpart.
Traditional celebrities refer to film or sports stars and
other academic or political celebrities who have specific
acknowledged achievements, talents, abilities, or social
status. By contrast, online influencers refer to those who
actively operate their social media accounts on social
platforms to enhance their popularity. The term “online
influencer” is relatively similar to “DIY celebrity” (Turner,
2006) or “microcelebrity” (Senft, 2008). Marwick (2013:
116e117, 121e123) argued that microcelebrity can be
classified into two categories, namely, ascribed and ach-
ieved. Ascribed microcelebrities often has a glamorous
image and higher status than their followers to attract the
focus and attention of the latter. By contrast, achieved
microcelebrities garner attention and trust with a grass-
roots image and through intimate interactions with their
online followers. Microcelebrities convert online flow into
money by visually attracting the audience’s attention but
rely minimally on the content production of their videos or
1
The “posting culture” has existed for decades and even cen-
turies. Before the popularization of cameras, people carved their
names on tree trunks or walls at scenic spots to mark their visit. At
present, the wide use of smartphones with digital cameras has
relocated the “posting culture” to online social platforms, such as
Instagram.
2
Traditional media refers to newspapers, magazines, posters,
radio, television, and exhibitions without the Internet. By contrast,
self-media refers to independently operated social media accounts
on such platforms as Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, and are often
run by individual users.
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
live streaming. That is, the reason why online influencers
are endowed with celebrity status is not that they have
demonstrable talents, abilities, or contributions as is the
case with traditional celebrities, but because of their
ability to attract attention on the Internet (Abidin, 2018, p.
3). Once they become online influencers with hundreds of
thousands of followers, they would secure lucrative
endorsement deals and have particular means of making
money from their online fame.
1.2. From online influencer to IOA
With the promotion of social media, the online influencer
phenomenon has expanded its boundaries that is not
limited to people but also involves influencing architecture
to become IOA. The Chinese word ’wanghong” was coined
as a term in recent years to refer to online influencers, and
the discussion of “wanghong architecture” has also gained
popularity recently to refer to IOA in the Chinese archi-
tectural media.
In the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)
database, academic papers with “wanghong” in the titles
emerged in 2015 and increased substantially from 2015 to
2019, thereby representing the attention given to the on-
line influencer phenomenon in the academic field (Fig. 1).
Despite numerous academic discussions on wanghong in the
fields of sociology, journalism, and communication, those in
architecture and urban studies remains limited. As of
October 2019, only two academic papers in the CNKI
database contained “wanghong architecture” in the titles,
and three other papers contained “wanghong architecture”
in the keywords.
In the term IOA, “online influential” is the modifier of
architecture. The essence of “online influential” is the
term “influential” rather than “online.”
Mass media evolved from print, broadcast, to online
media, which is one of the currently popular and influential
media. Similar to mass media, architectural media have
also developed from print architectural journals to the
architectural bulletin board system to online social plat-
forms. Even print architectural journals and magazines
have signed up to online social platforms as branches to
expand their influence and attract considerable attention
through the popular function of sharing on the Internet.
“Influential” means fame, reputation, popularity, and
attention, and is derived from diverse values. In architec-
tural history, these architecture aspects are primarily
derived from a breakthrough in spatial design, form or
structure, social significance, or influence on historic
events. At present, the Internet easily makes people,
products, and architecture popular, and IOA is an example.
2. Research scope: two types of IOA
IOA in this study refers to buildings that have attracted
broad attention from the public rather than discussions
within the architecture field. In judging whether an IOA is
designed as an unintentional result or has the intentional
aim to attract public attention, an IOA can be classified
into two categories, namely, after-end and front-end
IOA.
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Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture
Fig. 1 Number of academic papers with ‘wanghong’ in the title. Source: CNKI database.
2.1. After-end IOA
After-end IOA refers to the popular architecture that un-
intentionally spreads widely online. Its online influence and
popularity are not deliberately designed but a result of
events or accidental factors that are promoted by ordinary
users rather than stakeholders, such as designers or de-
velopers (Fig. 2). For example, the Down Under the Man-
hattan Bridge Overpass in New York became an influential
district online because of the classic view in the film Once
Upon a Time in America. Similarly, the fantasy Harry Potter
series novels and movies caused the vicinity of the fictitious
platform 93/4 in London King’s Cross station to become an
influential spot online. Moreover, the Blue Boat House on
the shore of the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia was
restored in the early 2000s and has become the hottest
selfie spot and an Australian icon on Instagram with over
20,000 hashtag posts. Moreover, La Muralla Roja, a post-
modern apartment in Calpe, Spain designed by Spanish ar-
chitect Ricardo Bofill in 1968, has unexpectedly become a
popular place throughout the Internet since 2015. This
online influence of the apartment was promoted by Monu-
ment Valley, a popular game on smartphones that was
inspired by and copied the form of the apartment. These
cases indicate that a place can become popular after-end
IOA as an unexpected outcome through films, novels, so-
cial media, and even games.
2.2. Front-end IOA
Front-end IOA, which is the counterpart of after-end IOA,
refers to architecture designed with the intention of
attracting public attention for capital gain popularity.
Buildings are often assigned as landmarks, thereby
providing profit for internal and external stakeholders
(Kirby and Kent, 2010). From the beginning of the design of
front-end IOA projects, architects and developers typically
attempt to catch the eye of the public and promote the
projects by self-branding with the help of the media. A
typical example is Vessel, as shown in Fig. 3.
Vessel is an attractive landmark developed by real es-
tate developer Stephen Ross in Hudson Yards as the “Eiffel
Tower of New York.” In particular, vessel is an amazing
staircase architecture that is similar to a pine cone and
designed by architect Thomas Heatherwick. Moreover,
Vessel offers a variety of angles for photography with its
landings and polished bronze surface. The proportions of
Vessel adapt to the ratios of square images to post on
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
3
Instagram. Thus, immediately after Vessel was completed
in March 2019, classic photographs of the architecture were
spread online and sparked discussion, thereby making it an
IOA. Around Vessel, the developers invested in building
shopping malls, apartments, office towers, and hotels.
Therefore, architecture from the beginning was defined as
an eye-catching place that was expected to attract
approximately two million visitors annually and bring ines-
timable income to the Hudson Yards district (Leading Ar-
chitecture & Design, 2019), which is typical of a front-end
IOA.
This study restricts the discussion to front-end IOA,
which is similar to what Architecture Professor Fan (2019)
called “auctorial IOA.” He explained that the production
of auctorial IOA is actively promoted by stakeholders with
the propagation on collective anxiety and romantic or
nostalgic consumption with architecture.
3. Methodology
3.1. Research framework: Bourdieu’s four forms of
capitals
Similar to how the online influencers make money by
attracting public attention, the production of IOA involves a
series of human activities that typically have particular
aims and meet some specific needs, such as economic in-
terests or profits. The German economist, sociologist, and
political theorist Marx (2007: 169e170) explained that
economic interests and profits turn into capital thereafter.
Therefore, capital theories can be applied to understand
the particular aims and needs related to the IOA phenom-
enon. In Marxist economics, capital often refers to eco-
nomic capital, including money and means of production.
However, capital is not restricted to an economic form.
The French anthropologist and socialist Bourdieu (1986)
innovatively explained his capital theory from an exten-
sive perspective and first argued that except for economic
capital, the general concept of capital has other forms,
namely, cultural and social capital. His capital theory
influenced Coleman (1988) and Putnam’s (1993) social
capital theories applied in sociology. However, these capi-
tal theories have mainly focused on the social dimension of
capitals, while IOA is a phenomenon that covers economic,
cultural, and social aspects. Therefore, tracing back to
Bourdieu’s four capital forms creates a root framework for
analyzing the IOA phenomenon.
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4 X. Zhao

Fig. 2 After-end IOA examples and means of becoming after-end IOA. Source: Photo Credit of DUMBO and Blue Boat House
belongs to Xiaoxin Zhao; Photo of 93/4 platform is an open access material from wikimedia.org; Photo Credit of La Muralla Roja
belongs to Shuyi Xie.

Bourdieu (1973, 1986) coined the term “cultural capital”
and explained that cultural capital exists in three forms:
embodied state (i.e., understanding of culture that be-
comes part of personal knowledge and cultivation), objec-
tified state (i.e., objects that store and represent culture,
such as books, dictionaries, instruments, and machines),
and institutionalized state (i.e., certified cultural evidence
recognized by society, such as educational qualifications).
In addition, culture has a symbolic meaning. In the cultural
consumption process, mass media explain the value of the
symbolic meaning embedded in the culture and broadcast
the symbolic meaning. Thus, people are involved in the
process of obtaining cultural capital to show their rela-
tionship to society.
Bourdieu (1986) defined social capital as “the aggregate
of the actual or potential resources” that connect to
institutionalized membership of a group, as determined by
a durable social network with mutual acquaintance and
recognition (Farr, 2004). As a group or country, enhancing
the cohesion of a society is a means to increase social
capital to power development. Coleman (1988) used Bour-
dieu’s viewpoint as basis to argue that social capital is a
type of resource embedded in social network. Putnam
(1993) posited that social capital consists of social norm
and trust, and is a national rather than a personal wealth.
Apart from the three capitals, Bourdieu also proposed
symbolic capital as the prestige and authority afforded by
society. Symbolic capital is a widely accepted economic,
social, and cultural capital distribution system recognized
by society as legitimate competence (Bourdieu and
Wacquant, 2013). Symbolic capital is derived from the
transformation of other forms of capital, proves the

Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
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Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture
Fig. 3 Front-end IOA example: Vessel in Hudson Yards, New
York. Source: Photo Credit belons to Xiaoxin Zhao.
legitimacy of the other capitals, and facilitates the flow of
capitals.
3.2. Data collection for case analysis
By applying Bourdieu’s capital theory as a conceptual
framework, the following sections will use case studies and
logical argumentation, along with the presentation and
analysis of the relevant photos, statistical data, and com-
ments from journals, books, news, and social platforms, to
examine how the IOA phenomenon emerged.
This study examines the IOA cases in China for two
reasons. First, IOA cases are collected from online media by
searching for “wanghong architecture,” which is the
commonly used term of IOA in Chinese, because no existing
term is commonly used to refer to IOA in the English
context. Second, the author is a Chinese citizen and has a
superior understanding of the Chinese economic, cultural,
social, and political contexts to analyze the IOA phenom-
enon. However, as in the case of Vessel, this study contends
that the IOA phenomenon occurs globally, which is an
aspect that will be discussed in Section 4.5.
This study argues that IOA is not designed but is
controlled by capitals and produced by intentionally
manipulating the media. To reveal the relationship be-
tween IOA and the different forms of capitals, selected
cases will be categorized according to Bourdieu’s four
capital forms. In particular, IOA is a tool for capital
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
5
transformation and typically caters to the desire and
need to seek capitals in four ways, namely, visual spec-
tacles, class division, national identity, and social
recognition.
4. Game of capitals: IOA production
4.1. IOA: visual spectacles and economic capital
IOA offers visual spectacles with the intention to attract
public attention. The visual spectacles of IOA can be clas-
sified into two categories according to aesthetics: miracle
IOA and freak IOA.
Miracle IOA refers to visually attractive architecture
with a fashionable form that often obtains appreciation
from the public, such as Vessel. The recent rapid ur-
banization in China has seen the building of the miracle
IOA. For example, a pyramid-shaped combined residen-
tial and commercial apartment, which is also used as an
office building in Kunshan, China, became an Internet
sensation owing to its impressive architectural appear-
ance (Fig. 4). Journalist Huang (2018) reported that
because of its amazing look, this apartment block has
sold out and 90 percent of the properties are occupied
and in use, a value which represents a higher proportion
than that found in surrounding buildings. This “photo-
genic” building has attracted hundreds of visitors who
post their photos online and contribute to the tourism
economy in Kunshan.
Freak IOA attracts people’s attention with vulgar forms
by approximate imitation. From the perspective of forms,
freak IOA is relatively similar to what architects Robert
Venturi and Denise Scott Brown would call a “duck” rather
than a “decorated shed” (Fig. 5) (Venturi et al., 1977, p.
88). The “duck” refers to a building-cum-sculpture archi-
tecture, which is a symbol, whereas the “decorated shed”
refers to an ornament that is applied independently to the
functions of a building and applies symbols (Venturi et al.,
1977, pp. 87e88). As key figures in postmodernism, Venturi
and Brown critiqued the modern international style build-
ings as ugly and boring “duck” buildings that pretended to
be extraordinary, and supported the “decorated shed” as a
functional building with meaningful symbols that enhance
architectural diversity. At present, the “duck” has been
designed as a huge Chinese softshell turtle or a huge crab in
China that aims to represent the identity of the zoomorphic
architecture and draw the eyes of the public toward local
industry (Fig. 6).
Although opinions on defining the aesthetic distinction
between miracle IOA and freak IOA differ, these IOAs un-
deniably offer visual spectacles that draw people’s atten-
tion. Among the Roman architect Vitruvius’ three principles
of good architecture (i.e., firmness, commodity, and
delight), only delight can be read through an image directly
to attract attention. In the fast-reading era with Internet,
more attention means more money; hence, architecture
inevitably demands an attractive image. The image spreads
rapidly because of the development of online social media.
Accordingly, IOAs are designed with visual spectacles to
attract people’s attention immediately and bring economic
capital.

6 X. Zhao
Fig. 4 Pyramid apartment in Kunshan, China.
‘amazing.architecture’.
Fig. 5 “Duck” and “decorated shed”. Source: Redrawn by
Xiaoxin Zhao based on (Venturi et al., 1977)
4.2. IOA: Xiaozi class division and cultural capital
Aesthetics and taste are important indexes of cultural
capital and cultural division that are influenced by and
reflect people’s social class (Le Roux et al., 2008). In the
voice of the media, IOA often represents good taste and
aesthetics as 小资 (xiaozi). After the 1990s, xiaozi became
a commendatory word in China that referred to the social
class that becomes rich and respects culture and spiritual
enjoyment with excellent taste, aesthetics, and elegant
behavior. Therefore, the xiaozi identity is reflected in their
lifestyle and taste. In such a context, xiaozi class creates
“symbol of distinction” for their cultural capital and social
class through their aesthetics, tastes, and consumptions
(Bourdieu, 2010, p. 12), such as watching cult films,
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
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Source: Screenshot from Instagram, Photo Credit belongs to
consuming Starbucks or Haagen-Dazs, and eating in
Michelin-starred restaurants in China. These behaviors as
symbols of distinction show the way to obtain cultural
capital and represent social class (Gartman, 1991). There-
after, ordinary people imitate the aesthetics, tastes, and
consumptions of the xiaozi to obtain their cultural capital,
as if they also have become a high social class.
Although the symbol of distinction represents cultural
capital and social class, these elements are not static but
are constantly changing, as determined and propagated by
the upper class. Compared with obtaining personal knowl-
edge, cultivation, and educational qualifications, accessing
the symbol of distinction is easy, thereby enabling ordinary
people to strive to obtain the symbol of distinction as cul-
tural capital. However, when obtaining the symbol of
distinction becomes effortless, the xiaozi will change their
tastes and construct new symbols of distinction to maintain
a distance from ordinary people and make them the minor
group again to retain their social class (Gartman, 1991).
New luxury products or services will be selected by the
upper class as the new symbols of distinction and the media
will be paid to propagate to attract ordinary people’s
consumption by advertising the constantly changing sym-
bols of distinction as new cultural capital. In this process,
people will obtain the so-called cultural capital and the
media and upper class will obtain economic and symbolic
capital.
From the preceding perspective, IOA assumes the similar
role of a new symbol of distinction. The attractive archi-
tectural image brings economic capital to the developers
and also brings cultural capital to ordinary customers and
visitors. In addition to the photogenic architectural image
as an attractive element, poetic words also create romantic
sentiments that contribute to promoting the IOA. A typical
example is the article titled “The loneliest library in
China,” which was accompanied by attractive photographs
(Fig. 7), had a poetically designed introduction online and
became an Instagram-posting spot (Yitiao, 2015).
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Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture
Fig. 6 Freak IOA: Exhibition halls in the form of a Chinese softshell turtle and crab. Source: Open access from Tencent.com
The sea is dyed a dark colour; the sunshine passes
through the cloud and disappears intermittently. The
library stands alone on an open beach, like a simple and
hard stone that has existed for decades. The surface of
the concrete walls, without decoration, record the
construction process, with the trace of timber moulds
that make you feel the warm touch of the timber.
The sunlight illuminates the meditation room through a
narrow gap, reflecting the passage of time. Through the
window of the meditation room, the panorama of the
reading room jumps into view. The beams of light enter
the space from various directions and play a symphony
with warm and cold tones (Yitiao, 2015).
The poetic text offers a picturesque and intoxicating
tableau as if retaining the trace of the timber moulds on
concrete walls, and becomes an excellent aesthetic in
architectural language. It seems a perplexing trend among
architects that if no dark meditation room with glorious
light beam is available, then the design appears to lose its
elegant taste. This text also suggests that the architect
aims to use the loneliness characteristics of the building to
attract public attention as an IOA.
As soon as the library was completed, it hit the headlines
in the Chinese social media, and media reports contributed
to a misleading impression that reading or visiting the li-
brary was elegant because of its “loneliness.” In this
context, loneliness becomes a symbol of distinction that
reflects superior aesthetics and taste, thereby bringing
cultural capital to the ordinary people visiting the library.
Ironically, after it became the loneliest library in China,
Fig. 7 Loneliest library in China. Source: Archdaily, Photo Credit belongs to Shengliang Su and Zhi Xia.
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
7
“nearly 2,000 people visited one Saturday afternoon to
experience noise instead of loneliness” (Williams, 2015).
A reversal of the proper order occurs when taking a
photo and posting it on Instagram becomes the first priority
for a library because of its isolation, and whether it used as
a library is not important. The following query appeared on
an online question-and-answer platform 知乎 (Zhihu) in
China: “what is your experience of visiting the loneliest
library in Qinhuangdao?” The Zhihu users explained that
“there were limited books in the library,” “no one visits
there for reading,” “most of them are visitors but not
readers who just need some nice photos to post on their
social platforms” (Zhihu, 2015).
This aforementioned library is an auxiliary project for
the Aranya Tourism and Real Estate project. The copy-
writing and promotion of the library adapted to the posting
culture and showed the public the xiaozi lifestyle.
Following the lead of the “upper class,” ordinary visitors
wish to display their distinctive taste by posting photos with
the library to obtain cultural capital, thereby making the
library an IOA.
4.3. IOA: National identity and social capital
As the aggregate of the actual or potential resources that
connect to institutionalized membership of a group, social
capital exists in personal social networks and in groups as
well (Putnam, 1993). Communities, companies, in-
stitutions, and even a nation will strengthen connections
and enhance the cohesion between members of society to
increase the social capital and achieve power
development.
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8 X. Zhao

Built for national events that represent national iden-

tity, national architecture often becomes IOA because it
illustrates national identity and culture, and enhances the
sense of pride and social cohesion among citizens. There-
fore, a national IOA, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, is
intentionally designed as a tool to increase a nation’s social
capital.
To meet the requirement of strengthening the national
social capital, the official media and mass media have
contributed to broadcasting and reporting every stage of a
national architecture, from site selection to the design
scenario until completion. Consequently, the national ar-
chitecture is officially created as IOA and is known by nearly
every citizen. The national IOA in China includes the
Olympic National Stadium and National Aquatics Centre in
Beijing, the China Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, Na-
tional Grand Theatre, and China Central Television (CCTV)
building. Similar to the contribution of nicknames to the
emergence of online influencers, the easy-broadcasting
nicknames of the national architectures also contribute to
making them IOA. Some national IOA have official nick-
names, such as the Bird’s Nest (Olympic National Stadium),
Water Cube (National Aquatics Centre), and Oriental Crown
(China Pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010). Other national ar-
chitecture have folk nicknames, such as “the boiled egg”
(National Grand Theatre) and “the big underpants” (CCTV
building). Overall, the demand for national social capital is
the primary motivation that creates this type of architec-
ture IOA.
We use the CCTV building as an example. As a critical
architecture firm, the Office for Metropolitan Architecture
(OMA) disobeyed the architects’ ethics to design such an Fig. 8 Two of the ten national architectures: Beijing Railway
atypical and extravagant building. Ole Scheeren, the di- Station (top); Beijing Cultural Palace of Nationalities (bottom).
rector of the CCTV building project in OMA, defended their Source: These two photos are open access materials from
design during a speech in Columbia University with two wikipedia.
main points. First, it was CCTV rather than OMA chose the
design. Second, Scheeren insisted that constructing such an
extravagant architecture is a custom to represent China’s Evidently, the construction of the 10 national architectures
national identity during its urbanization process. He took is inseparable from the historical background in the 1950s.
the “ten national architectures” in Beijing built in Hence, the government needed the national architecture
1958e1959 (Fig. 8) to illustrate that only China can turn a to build national identity and increase the national social
historic city into a modern city by constructing considerably capital for the construction of a new country.
extravagant architecture for its national identity in such a From this perspective, the state government’s need for
short time, thereby proving that design on a grand scale and social capital promotes national architecture as IOA.
in extravagant form is reasonable (Zhu, 2014, pp.
332e335). 4.4. IOA: Social recognition and symbolic capital
Beck (1998: 115) explained that “architecture is politics
with bricks and mortar.” Architecture plays a role as a In IOA production, reviews and comments on IOA are
medium in broadcasting the history, culture, and identity of strongly related to architects’ social recognition and
a nation, as well as the national ideology. In European determine their symbolic capital. As a subject, the
countries, architecture has been used in the discourse as an boundary of architecture is ambiguous and vague, thereby
“expression of post-national identities within and beyond providing professionals and the public with the opportunity
nation-states” and imperial powers (Delanty and Jones, to evaluate architecture projects. The two voices of pro-
2002: 453). Similarly, architecture has been a significant fessionals and the public erupted and entwined in the on-
tool since the 1910s to build a national identity and in- line era to influence subsequent design works (Fan, 2019).
crease social capital in China. Chinese architects have Furthermore, the timeliness and relative freedom of online
attempted to establish a Chinese architectural style in the comments and discussions contribute to a strong interac-
1930s. Until the founding of the People’s Republic of China tive evaluation model for reviewing architectural projects
in the 1950s, the socialist ideology influenced and utilized (Li and Zhi, 2014). Thus, architects occasionally break from
the national architecture as a medium to represent its na- architecture autonomy and guide the public voice to
tional identity to increase social capital, such as the 10 receive public approval. This idea has permeated the ar-
national architectures in Beijing (Wang and Wang, 2014). chitecture field possibly because of the influence of the

Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
 + MODEL
Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture
motto “be famous as early as you can” in the online influ-
encer circle. Architects find three shortcuts to fame,
namely, public persona, media promotion, and awards, to
increase their personal symbolic capital and become
“starchitects” or influential online architects (Yu, 2018).
From the public persona perspectives, architects are
beginning to become involved in the world of showbiz. For
example, by participating in such TV shows as 梦想改造家
(mengxiang gaizaojia, renovation for the dream home) or
漂亮的房子 (piaoliang de fangzi, the beautiful house), they
reveal their private design process to enhance the attrac-
tiveness of their image. They also participate in adver-
tisements, occasionally with other celebrities, to increase
their discoverability and social recognition through media
exposure and obtain symbolic capital.
Online social media has a significant role in producing IOA
and influential online architects. However, qualified influ-
ential online architects require more than design skills; they
also need excellent writing skills and the ability to promote
projects with the help of the media. Architect and critic Yu
(2018) took the Mulan Weichang Visitor Centre project in
the TV show piaoliang de fangzi as an example to illustrate
his argument. From the TV show broadcasting the project in
December 2017 until the present, the Mulan Weichang Visitor
Centre has been the subject of over 4 million Google searches
in Chinese and 179,000 in English. The media exert every
effort to promote the project with clickbaiting, such as “The
Mongolian yurt designed by Daniel Wu’s group win the ar-
chitecture award” and “The lonely Mongolian yurt in China.”
Yu (2018) collected and counted the titles of relevant online
articles pertaining to the project from December 21 to 31,
2017 and explained that the high-frequency keywords are
“Daniel Wu,”3 “Mongolian yurt,” “architecture award,”
“loneliness,” and “the most beautiful.” These eye-catching
words used by the media contribute to producing IOA. Yu
(2018) added that “good-looking,” “talent,” and “super
renovation” are overused words in IOA.
Architects are also vying for various national and inter-
national awards, such as the Red Dot Award and iF Design
Award, to enhance their fame, reputation, and qualifica-
tions, thereby enabling them to obtain symbolic capital. In
this process, architects often fall into the trap of social value
or political correctness to win awards. A look at the winners
and nominees for the Pritzker Architectural Prize (PAP) in
recent years indicate a trend for this award to focus on the
social value of the design. Notably, the 2013 and 2014 PAP
winners, Japanese architects Toyo Ito and Shigeru Ban; the
2016 PAP winner, Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena; and
the 2018 PAP winner, Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi
espouse architectural practices with positive social in-
fluences and values, such as post-disaster reconstruction or
designing for low-income groups. Patrik Schumacher, direc-
tor at Zaha Hadid Architects, stated as follows:
The role of the architect is now ‘to serve greater social
and humanitarian needs’, and the new laureate is hailed for
3
Daniel Wu is a Hong Kong actor who studied architecture in the
University of Oregon. He participated in the TV show piaoliang de
fangzi and designed the Mulan Weichang Visitor Centre with ar-
chitect Zhang Hai’ao. Wu is considered “handsome” that his
participation attracts many female fans to watch this TV show.
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
9
‘tackling the global housing crisis’ and for his concern for
the underprivileged.
Architecture loses its specific societal task and re-
sponsibility, architectural innovation is replaced by the
demonstration of noble intentions and the discipline’s
criteria of success and excellence dissolve in the vague do-
good-feel-good pursuit of ‘social justice’ (Imanova, 2016).
This paper argues that advocating social justice is not a
fault, but a fake social justice that caters to any award
selection standard is definitely a misconception. This
misconception is reflected in the inconsistency between
the initial slogan and final result of the design. For
example, the revitalization of Wencun Village was designed
from a relatively “fake social justice” perspective that
advocates the idea that rural revitalization should respect
traditional construction techniques as an intangible cul-
tural heritage and meet the modern needs of local vil-
lagers. However, this project did not use traditional
construction techniques and the villagers’ attitude toward
the project was not as positive as reported by the mass
media (Dong, 2015, p. 94). The villagers were dissatisfied
with the project until Wencun village became an influential
online village. That is, visitors were attracted and many of
the houses in the village were turned into bed-and-
breakfast hotels, thereby bringing economic profits to vil-
lagers. Evidently, this phenomenon went against the
architect’s original purpose and was not consistent with his
ideas (Zhao and Greenop, 2019). These cases illustrate that
architects exert effort to obtain symbolic capital by pro-
moting their architectural projects as IOA.
4.5. IOA is promoted by a combined driving force of
capitals
This study uses the previous four sections to individually
explain the manner by which the different forms of capitals
create IOA. However, such an approach does not mean that
each IOA case is promoted by a single type of capital. For
example, apart from the cultural capital for tourists, the
loneliest library also contributed to economic capital as an
auxiliary project for the Aranya Real Estate project. Ar-
chitect Dong Gong submitted the loneliest library project to
many journals, magazines, and awards to enhance his
symbolic capital to be a “starchitect.” That is, some IOA
cases may have their primary and secondary capital pro-
motors rather than having only one.
In general, the multi-capital promoted IOA is not
restricted in China but is global in nature, with the Sydney
Opera House (SOH) as an example. SOH can be regarded as
a special case of IOA because it started to become popular
in an era with only print and broadcast media until today
with widespread online media. By this standard, the Gug-
genheim Museum Bilbao and Louvre are also world multi-
capital promoted IOA.
As an old IOA, SOH was also intentionally designed as a
landmark in Sydney, and was promoted by cultural, social,
and symbolic capitals. Regarding cultural capital, a new
opera house was advocated in the 1950s to offer music and
performances to Australians (Kerr, 2003, p. 13). For a “na-
tional opera house,” the government announced an inter-
national competition and attracted global attention.
 + MODEL
10
Muratovski (2012: 198) claimed that “architecture is in a
sense a promotional medium and an identity definer. It is a
medium that promotes social relationships and individual
enterprises, and can be used as a symbol of territorial iden-
tity.” In this sense, SOH is designed as a national iconic ar-
chitecture that creates social capital by giving Aussies a
“sense of attachment that communities have with this place”
(Freeman, 2018, p. 44). Regarding symbolic capital, Jørn
Utzon, an unknown 38-year-old architect in 1957, won the
international competition for the Sydney “national opera
house” by relying on his innovative but controversial design.
He was later chosen as the 2003 Laureate of the PAP for SOH.
SOH was not initially designed for the tourism industry.
However, the contribution of social media has enabled SOH
to truly become an IOA with over 860,000 posts on Insta-
gram using the hashtag #sydneyoperahouse. Statistics show
that SOH attracts thousands of tourists to Sydney annually
and was estimated to have contributed AU$640.1 million
expenditure in Sydney from 2012 to 2013 by encouraging
overnight stays and visitor spending (Scerri et al., 2019).
The balance between capitals and design makes SOH a
successful example of IOA.
5. Discussion
Zukin (2009: 15) argued that analyzing urban development
entails considering political, economic, and social-cultural
factors, including the power of economic capital, the
state, cultural power of media, and consumer taste. Among
these factors, the cultural power of media and consumer
taste offer people more second-hand rather than first-hand
experience. For example, people like to see the ratings and
reviews for local food, shopping, services, and entertain-
ment by using apps, such as Yelp,4 before making their
decision, thereby influencing their direct urban experience.
Similarly, second-hand experience generates and spreads
when an increasing number of people give ratings and re-
views according to their experiences of the architecture or
urban spaces in journals, magazines, blogs, and other social
media. From this perspective, IOA relies on the cultural
power of media and consumer taste by disseminating
second-hand architectural experiences.
In this sense, IOA is a product of the combined fields of
architecture and communication and is becoming a repro-
ducible architecture production mode that adapts to capital
flow. That is, mass media contribute to broadcasting the IOA
image as the vehicle for capital flow and transformation
through “value-add through propagation” (An and Fan,
2019). This propagation may be manipulated by stake-
holders to seek different capitals (Fan, 2019). The case study
shows that real estate developers invest in IOA to obtain
economic capital, tourists visit IOA for cultural capital, the
government promotes IOA projects for social capital, and
architects design IOA for their symbolic capital.
From the positive side, IOA promotes the spread of
excellent architectural experiences, encourages and at-
tracts many people to visit, and creates an interactive public
4
Yelp is a business directory service forum, website, and mobile
app that publishes crowd-sourced reviews of business
establishments.
Please cite this article as: Zhao, X., Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture, Frontiers of Architectural Research,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foar.2020.03.002
X. Zhao
urban space. However, from the negative side, not all IOA will
be constantly attractive and retain popularity, particularly
front-end IOA designed with the intention of attracting
public attention and capital. Given the driving force of cap-
ital, we should be wary that even an inferior design could
become IOA if promoted by mass media, which becomes an
immediate route to capital and profit. At present, the media
are willing to promote architects through puffery, and ar-
chitects enjoy becoming idols because of capital and profit.
Evidently, such a situation negatively affects the design field.
An and Fan (2019) critiqued the notion “form follows
finance,” which indicates that architecture design has been
forced by the financial market. Therefore, the current study
argues that in the process of IOA production, overemphasis
on seeking capitals may cause the phenomenon of bad money
driving out good money5 in design. That is, an inferior design
may drive out a good design.
6. Conclusion
This study offers a novel perspective in reviewing archi-
tecture with media. The current research distinguishes two
categories of IOA, namely, after-end and front-end IOA,
and uses case studies to illustrate that the IOA phenomenon
is promoted by capitals with the help of media. Given that
front-end IOA is designed as a tool for capital trans-
formation, the overemphasis on obtaining capitals to pro-
duce IOA may erode architectural design.
Architectural criticism contributes to the theoretical
development of architecture and urban design. In China,
architectural journals and media typically introduce ar-
chitecture practices from a positive perspective: architec-
tural historians and theorists write papers to flatter these
practices with obscure theories. Real and profound archi-
tectural critiques of architecture practices and theories are
limited (Li and Zhi, 2014). Compared with architecture
practices, architectural critiques secure an immediate re-
action to the current issues in the built environment and
society with a shorter period and stronger time-
effectiveness. During the critiquing process, valuable
ideas and philosophy will emerge to guide future archi-
tectural and urban development. Simultaneously, archi-
tectural critiques consider influence on the value of
architecture itself and on people’s lives in widely covered
dimensions, such as community interaction and health.
Thus, to prove the objectivity, critical aspect, and
comprehensiveness of its voice, the media should retain a
proper distance from the stakeholders in architecture to
protect its autonomy and independence. However, discus-
sions on the topic of architectural critique outnumber
architectural critiques in China (Jin, 2009). Ironically, non-
professional online users discuss and criticize the image and
social influence of IOA enthusiastically.
Post-occupancy evaluation (POE) is the process of “sys-
tematically comparing actual building performance with
explicitly stated performance criteria” (Preiser, 1995, p.
5
Also called Gresham’s law, this principle means that if two
types of money with similar face value are in circulation, then the
money that has more commodity value (value of the metal from
which it is made) will gradually disappear from circulation.
 + MODEL
Game of capitals: Production of influential online architecture
19). Moreover, POE is a tool that concludes the current
issue of the design and makes suggestions to improve future
work. POE is an “after-end” mode that offers an objective
evaluation of architecture by experts and people rather
than the front-end IOA that propagates pre-supposed in-
terpretations. Therefore, POE plays a significant role in
establishing positive values and criteria for future design
and resisting inferior IOA.
Overall, architecture, media, and capital are increas-
ingly connected. Although online media contributes to
producing IOA for capitals, it also offers platforms for
architectural criticism and POE to guide future architec-
tural and urban design. This study suggests using the IOA
mode properly to rationalize and balance our architectural
and urban design with capitals.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of financial support for the
research, authorship, and/or publication of this research from
the China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201506190144).
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest in this paper.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to the executive editor Jian Jiao and other peer
reviewers for their kind suggestions and comments.
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