Walked down to the Faria Lima metro station today, to go up to Consolacao – named for the cemetery – for its lighting shops. I’m collecting images of Sao Paulo’s towers, struck by the variations on the ferro-concrete box which I discover. It’s starting to become a habit, perhaps an obsession … staring up at the buildings, or worse, photographing them, I get strange looks. Don’t mind, when the visual environment above street level is so rich. The netting they use during refurbishment puts me in mind of the ‘wrapping’ works of visual artist Christo.
Three more variations on ways to disguise the box mentioned before ….
Much of the build at Consolacao is post-1945. Sometimes individuality is asserted in a very low key way …
…and sometimes it’s right up front.
The area has good examples of both residential and commercial architecture.
Some buildings ARE in dire need of disguise, but some are gems.
How can I resist looking up? Keeping one eye on the traffic …
More on Sao Paulo skyscrapers and other Brasilian architecture at
http://theproverbial.org/2012/07/18/sao-paulo-skyscrapers/
http://theproverbial.org/2012/07/22/more-sampa-skyscrapers/
http://brasilart.org/2012/07/19/trophy-towers/
http://theproverbial.org/2012/06/21/reading-compulsive-architecture/