Arch-Exist

Seeing the weather forecast predicting moderate snow, we immediately flew from Chengdu to Inner Mongolia. In the biting wind of minus 20 degrees Celsius, we waited until sunrise and witnessed China’s polar-like landscape. Tiny ice crystals were whipped up by the wind, forming ice-crystal bands that drifted in mid-air like low-lying fog. This transformed the house amidst the volcanic cluster into a pure white marvel.

Architect

Using traditional African tribal methods, a zoo was hand-built in the Middle East. Located in Sharjah Safari, UAE, it is the largest African themed wildlife sanctuary outside of Africa.

The commissioned architect was Spain‘s Urko Sanchez Architects. All structures in Sharjah Safari were crafted using techniques inspired by primitive African villages. As shown in the last image, even the most basic mortise and tenon woodworking techniques were not employed all structural connections reverted to a primitive state. This can be considered another form of ”brutalism.“

Our experience in the Middle East is relatively limited. By early May, when we visited, the weather was already excessively hot, with no rainfall. The African animals there were too heat-exhausted to move much, and visitors were sparse. It was somewhat regrettable, going a month earlier might have allowed us to capture more scenes of both people and animals.