Using Digital Editing, Designer Places Manhattan Buildings In Desolate Landscapes

United Nations headquarters (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

Using digital editing, designer Anton Repponen places Manhattan buildings in desolate landscapes, “inviting viewers to see them as if for the first time”.

Chrysler Building (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

“Concrete behemoths and steel-and-glass towers rise from sand dunes and rocky cliffs, inviting viewers to see them as if for the first time”, the project states.

The Standard, High Line (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

By placing these buildings in the wild, “out of context, architectural forms become more pronounced”.

The New Museum (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

Each image is paired with a short story by Jon Earle, which you can read on the Misplaced website. Repponen calls each story “a flight of fancy that enhances the overall sense of absurdity, mystery, and humour. They are like scenes from a movie never made, fitting companions to images that could never actually be”.

Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

Take the Guggenheim: “Guggenheim museums”, writes Earle, “began sprouting across the globe, from the Basque Country to faraway Dubai, until there was nowhere else for them to grow. The board of directors sent agents to scour the earth for primitive lands that knew nothing of modern and contemporary art. At last word arrived of such a place. A check was written, migrant workers hired and a museum rose from the volcanic mudflats of X. Ticket sales have been sluggish”.

IAC Building (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

“The square-riggerish IAC Building is Frank Gehry’s only work inspired by a Monty Python song, according to Earle’s text. As a boy growing up in landlocked Albania, I always wondered: What did happen to the accountant’s’ office when it sailed off the edge of the earth in Accountancy Shanty? Was it smashed to bits? Did it disappear into a void?” Gehry mused. “I like to believe that it landed on a desolate, sandy plain, a vision I’m so glad IAC shares”. Gehry is currently working on an architectural adaptation of that scene in The Meaning of Life when the fat man explodes”.

Whitney Museum of American Art (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

“The Whitney Museum is the ultimate prize for the serious trophy hunter. An elusive beast, the Whitney roams the plains of Mozambique in search of food and potential mates … Compared to this rare and majestic creature, the white rhinoceros is like a common squirrel. I once threw an acorn at a squirrel and hit it right on the nose. Startled, the squirrel chirped. Did you know squirrels could chirp? I didn’t. Now where were we? Oh, who cares”.

Metropolitan Opera (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

Repponen, who runs the design agency Anton and Irene, has also created a wide variety of personal projects.

8 Spruce Street/New York By Gehry (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

Repponen has designed everything from skateboards and milk bottles to concepts for Estonia’s Olympic uniforms.

Breuer Building (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

For another project, he replaced the iPhone operating system with one that resembles Apple computer interfaces from the 1980s.

Cooper Union (Photo by Anton Repponen/The Guardian)

“When designing experiences”, he says, “I imagine a physical building where everything makes perfect sense and where some people will spend their lives”.