Real Estate From Above

[Image: From Real Estate – 100 Aerial Drawings by Heman Chong].

For his project Real Estate – 100 Aerial Drawings, artist Heman Chong “collected satellite pictures of Singapore.” He then “traced out” one hundred buildings “from a bird’s-eye view” (or satellite’s-eye view), mounting the images in red on white to match the colors of Singapore’s flag.
The result is architectural form abstracted from its terrestrial setting, turned into nothing but shape. Each image even vaguely resembles some alien craft out of Space Invaders – a game whose title is an apt metaphor for real estate development as such.

[Images: From Real Estate – 100 Aerial Drawings by Heman Chong].

Japanese sound artist Toru Yamanaka then composed five really nice little soundtracks for the project’s website; each soundtrack loops after roughly a minute (or so), and the first three, in my opinion, are the best. Melancholic machine-drones and urban noise intersecting.
The buildings range from structural archipelagos scattered across large urban sites –

[Image: From Real Estate – 100 Aerial Drawings by Heman Chong].

– to perfectly Euclidean shapes; some even look like corporate logos –

[Image: From Real Estate – 100 Aerial Drawings by Heman Chong].

– emblazoned on the planet, as if some firm would design their HQ specifically to be viewed by satellite. Future facades, in the age of Google Earth.

(A brief interview with Heman Chong here; and thanks to Melissa for the tip!)