Janice Yan Ji Chow

What is the role of Media Impact Value in defining the evolution of an ever more popular architecture? 

My project speculates on a MIV-led strategy for redevelopment in Stratford, merging the proposed East Bank cultural hub and the contentious site that is the Carpenters Estate, creating quality and long term value through new connected and extended views.

MIV stands for Media Impact Value, a proprietary metric originating from the fashion and luxury industry to measure the impact of brand placements across the field. Its algorithm translates popularity into monetary value for digital content, and favours 'impressions' (i.e. views, clicks, shares) above all else. This media-impact driven approach is widely used in Instagram advertising: since the better an image is at generating impressions, the more money the sponsor earns through the post, thereby making both the image and blogger more valuable.

The growing trend of consuming culture and architecture through media has made MIV an essential metric that can be leveraged to redirect value to real life locations. Media has sped up the popularisation, circulation and reinterpretation of content, especially through images. Specific aesthetics arising from those visual feedback loops being translated into tangible real life experiences, has already happened at a smaller scale mostly in the form of objects and interiors.

Bringing in cultural capital has become the standard practice of placemaking, and with today’s Instagram-oriented approach to making and consuming culture, the representation of a place in media has become as important as the place itself. 

Stratford is a typical example of a place caught between real life and isolated object-buildings constructed to project a totally different image for international prestige. This divide is a good example of 'Corporate Developers MIV', the aesthetic they choose to stick onto Stratford, in contrast with the 'Popular MIV' of Instagram that originates from the site.

To popularise the Stratford aesthetic, I have photographed a Stratford-specific set of looks and visual compositions that makes the area visually appealing, giving it high MIV. These define the 'Stratford Popular' aesthetic which then becomes a design guide for further use.

Through the lens of Media Impact Value, and borrowing themes from fashion, media and visual culture, I will speculate on the visual language, products and effects of a high-MIV architecture.