Posted Sep 27, 2010, 7:23 PM
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Join Date: Aug 2002
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Ads for Imaginary Buildings Highlight Lack of Real Development
Ads for Imaginary Buildings Highlight Lack of Real Development
September 24, 2010
By Alissa Walker
Read More: http://www.good.is/post/ads-for-imag...l-development/
Quote:
Every neighborhood has one. You know, the vacant, dilapidated building that has sat empty for a year or more, completely neglected—except for that fading developer sign with a sleek architectural rendering promising some new and exciting edifice set against a bright blue sky. A building that, of course, has still not materialized. Wouldn't it be amazing, thought writer Rob Walker (no relation to me), if signs like these could be produced to highlight the ignored real estate in a city? Hypothetical Development is a new project founded by Walker, Ellen Susan, and G.K. Darby that's looking to do exactly that for New Orleans.
- As I walked past this spot for the zillionth time recently, it occurred to me that there are vacant buildings with no discernible future all over town — all over lots of towns. Wouldn’t it be cool to create completely fictional, but imaginative and exciting, “artist renderings” of their hypothetical futures, too? And post those renderings on the actual vacant buildings?
- Now, egged on by his partners, Walker is doing it. Hypothetical Development will feature dozens of architectural renderings for imaginary, never-gonna-happen places, which will be placed on vacant or otherwise forgotten buildings and sites throughout New Orleans. Some ideas the group has come up with already are "The Museum of the Self" and "The Loitering Centre."
- Still, the idea that such a rendering could rally local residents around an ignored piece of real estate is not so far-fetched. Perhaps this street art project could turn into authentic grassroots activism. "I do think it would be great if the project drew attention to some of these under-used spaces, and something real happens as a result," says Walker. "But really, our goal is probably more modest—just to inject a bit of intrigue, engagement, and pleasure into a corner of the built environment that's otherwise overlooked."
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