Châteauphilia
The buildings people inhabit are extensions of their bodies and a canvas for their self-representation to the world. How they built their houses tells a story about the owners.
While exploring the coastal city of Haiphong in Vietnam in 2022 I discovered these colossal buildings, evidently residences of people who like to extravagantly show their wealth.
A simple way to stick out is to build higher than the neighbors. This might be a competition. Bigness attracts attention. But then, I wonder why they chose this style. Where does the idea come from to disguise a Southeast-Asian urban residence as a pseudo baroque castle? Fascinated by this absurdity I created a typological series of these colossi.
