In this round-up of notable architecture in Africa, Wired takes a closer look at projects from Morocco to South Africa, including the Lideta Mercato in Ethiopia by Xavier Vilalta and the Bosjes Chapel by Steyn Studio. As the piece notes, "Contemporary African architecture is extremely varied: it ranges from sustainable rural developments to luxury apartments and offices; from schools and hospitals to swanky safari lodges; and from huge infrastructure projects to makeshift improvisations. In all of these styles is a sensitivity to local traditions combined with on-the-ground ingenuity." It's also quite visually arresting.
7 Comments
"Eye Candy Architecture" - seems like you are making slight of some really good projects. Bet you'd never do so for any starchitect crap.
didn't you know the US is all there is in the universe and anything else is just part of the decoration?
The US and Western Europe.
Just as in newspaper publishing, the writing of web or blog headlines is frequently annoying-- underthought, sensationalized, or just lazy.
But be careful in this critique. My similar comments were vaporized from another post by a contributor who shall remain Mackenzie Goldberg.
Don't see what all the fuss is with calling this eye candy because it is very nice to look at. Without any plans, sections or details, two money shots are all we have, the eye candy photographs. I find it even derogatory to not be allowed to judge 'African' architecture for its appealing appearance alone when that's all we get to see.
The issue is that by calling it "Eye Candy", one implies that it is just that, postcards. If one said that for a Thom Mayne building, all of archinect would be up in arms.
What a bullshit, sorry but if we can't call eye candy eye candy any more simply because it's African eye candy, that's just ridiculous. Calling something eye candy also doesn't mean it has no substance but that it simply looks good. You don't need to critique everything all the time like you're the architecture critic of the NYT, it's only an article about Wired magazine.
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