Designer Alex Chinneck's mushy feelings for abandoned buildings are not novel—in fact, many artists carve portfolios out of a similar adoration for derelict structures—but his particular brand of blight worship, building abstract sculpture from the remains, sets him apart. Take, for example, his £100K ($162K) project for this four-story house in the British beach town of Margate. Here the brick façade is slipping off the home's blackened bones like the meat off a slow-cooked rack of ribs. But unlike NYC's real-life façade-less building, the mid-19th-century property's mask is impeccably engineered with window frames and other necessities curved to make it seem like the whole shebang is falling into the garden, revealing the empty shell beneath. "I like the contradiction of taking a subject that's dark or depressing or bleak, something like dereliction which suggests something quite negative socially but also aesthetically, and delivering a playful experience within that context," Chinneck told Dezeen. "I don't think it's a negative comment on society, it's just trying to give society a positive experience."
From the knees of my nose to the belly of my toes from Hazeleigh Prebble on Vimeo.
More architectural illusions? How about the townhouse people crawl on like Spiderman? Or a house that teeters on the end of a single ladder?
· From the Knees of my Nose to the Belly
of my Toes by Alex Chinneck [Dezeen]
· All Abandonment Issues posts [Curbed National]
· All Artistry posts [Curbed National]
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