Tag: Vernacular

Vernacular Shantyscrapers: Reimagining Lagos as a Vertical City

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria, a fast-growing metropolis that has already spilled over onto adjacent waters but needs to grow up as well as as out.

Artist and architect Olalekan Jeyifous works in Brooklyn but grew up in Lagos, a place where patchwork urbanism and ramshackle architecture evolve out of necessity, invention and available materials.

In this series of imaginative photo collages, Jeyifous combines original photographs and three-dimensional models, envisioning a vertical expression of the same approaches.

In part, the imagery is a tribute to ground-up innovation and improvisation, which results in a vernacular often ignored by “serious” architects in favor of conventional design styles.

“The project examines the ways in which the nature of impoverished spaces,” says Jeyifous, “which are not only highly self-organized but also deploy sustainability practices as a matter of necessity, can be applied to cities undergoing massive population growth.”

Where some see horizontal slums currently (or vertical ones in this futuristic vision), others can find inspiration to create architecture that reflects all of the demographics and history of a given place.

Skyscraper Squatters: Lessons from Ad Hoc Vertical Slums

Take abandoned office towers without occupants, on the one hand, while people all around sleeping on the streets, on the other. One deserted structure in downtown Caracas provides a fascinating …

Vertical Horizon: Urban Photographs Turn City Upside Down

Hong Kong has to be one of the most-photographed cities on Earth, but these shots present a rarely-seen perspective by documentarians or pedestrians … unless they look straight up.

From …

Vertical Cities: 12 Towers Take Urban Density to the Skies

Taking advantage of virtually endless vertical space within urban centers, entire cities-within-cities could spring up into the skies, packing in thousands of new housing units as well as parks, …

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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WebUrbanist

August 8, 2016
Architectural Cultures Condensed: Vernacular Dwelling Collages

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

Can you distill the architecture of a particular city down to an image of just a single building? Not effectively – unless you’re Sweden-based artist Anastasia Savinova, who scouts and photographs the most distinctive typologies of specific locations and then blends them into a single structure via paper collage. Entitled “Genuis Loci,” the series consists of monstrous, Frankenstein-like cobbled buildings packing in as much visual information as possible.

“Traveling around cities and countries, I take pictures of buildings, look into windows sneakily, go to local shops, flea markets and bars, watch everyday life – all this helps to build the feeling of the Place. This feeling becomes a foundation for a series of large-scale collages. The Integral Image emerges from visual information and a dozen of associations. While architecture and landscape are visual components of the integral image of the Place, at the same time, this image is inseparably linked with a mentality and a way of life.”

“It is saturated with ‘an incorporeal something.’ Ancient Romans called it ‘genus loci’ – the protective spirit of a place. In contemporary usage, ‘genus loci’ refers to a location’s distinctive atmosphere. A big house on each collage is composed of many buildings, which are typical for a particular country or city, in their connection with the land and the spirit of the place.”

Some almost look like they could be real structures, while the rest are pure fantasy, towering dozens or hundreds of feet into the air, sprouting forests from their roofs or balancing precariously on ladders. Can you guess from the images which countries are represented here? If you can’t figure it out, check out Savinova’s website for all the specifics.

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Vanishing Vernacular: NYC Storefront Gentrification in Action

Overtly a straight-shot photographic compilation, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York shows the rich vernacular diversity of mom-and-pop shops …
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Wearable Skylines: Architectural Rings Wrap Up Global Cities

Jewelry for urbanists has taken a new turn with these silver, gold and platinum cityscapes, each featuring iconic buildings, monuments and landmarks from major …
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4-Dimensional Photography: Artistic Time-Lapse City Collages

Motion pictures aside, the nature of photographic representation implies freezing space in time – a moment captured and preserved, independent of what …
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[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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WebUrbanist

February 11, 2016
Vanishing Vernacular: NYC Storefront Gentrification in Action

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

Overtly a straight-shot photographic compilation, Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York shows the rich vernacular diversity of mom-and-pop shops across all five boroughs. Since publishing the book, however, its creators have revisited their subjects and documented the amazing rate of change as “luxury condos and artisanal cupcake boutiques uproot local delis and dive bars.”

These before-and-after pictures were taken all over the city and reflect the influence of many immigrant cultures, including “Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians, Poles, Eastern Europeans and later Hispanics and Chinese”, but also a more recent trend toward uniformity.

The images themselves are unpretentious, allowing the streets and stores to speak for themselves. Supplemental maps, histories and interviews, however, help flesh the book out without detracting from the power of the photos throughout.

The visual story told by the book and followup photographs is hard to put into words, but captures the spirit of neighborhoods around New York. “The variety is immense, from Manhattan’s Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery and Katz’s Delicatessen to the Jackson Heights Florist in Queens, Court Street Pastry in Brooklyn, D. D’Auria and Sons Pork Store in the Bronx and the De Luca General Store on Staten Island … the face of New York is etched in their facades.”

About the photographers and authors, James and Karla Murray, and their work: “Their critically acclaimed books New York Nights and Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York as well as their graffiti publication Broken Windowshave set the standard for urban documentation. New York Nights was the winner of the prestigious New York Society Library’s 2012 New York City Book Award. “

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Dazzling Digital Ads: 12 Interactive Storefront Displays

It’s practically impossible to ignore interactive storefront ads that literally jump out at you, react to your movements and follow you down the street.
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Colorful Calls to Action: Decorated Pothole Projects

Two gorgeous green graffiti projects are calling attention to the world-wide problem of potholes in city streets…and they’re doing it with humor + beauty.
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Asymmetrical and Acid-Yellow Storefront for Konzepp

A Hong Kong gadget & gift shop called Konzepp gets a fittingly bright, modern, angular facade in this asymmetrical storefront design by 33WILL.
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[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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April 2, 2014