Street art has gone main stream and with that the idea of purposely incorporating art into the design of a building has many artists and architects intrigued but the actuality of it happening conjointly has been more of a concept rather than an actuality until KUD (Kavellaris Urban Design) decided it was time and contacted artist Samantha Everton to collaborate with them on a joint art & architecture building and the result is the amazing 2 Girls Building located in Abbottsford, Victoria – a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
The image used on the facade of 2 Girls Building is from Samantha’s fantasy series called “Vintage Dolls” and this particular photo art is called Masquerade. It is this fusion of art, photography and architecture that makes 2 Girls Building so incredibly fascinating. The architecture becomes photography that is art while the art is photography that becomes architecture. Fascinating as Spock would say.
Since the art was created before the building process began, the voids of the windows etc. create voids within the image which just adds another layer of mystery to the fantasy piece.
In fact when you look at the original artwork is somehow isn’t as interesting as it is with pieces missing on the architecture.
I really like how the architect used the lamp within the original work to create an outdoor light fixture, making this truly a 3D work of art.
The outdoor light is made with a steel tube that extends along a vertical edge of the natural concrete wall, which has been imprinted with the same pattern used in the wallpaper of the original art.
The pattern is a relief texture.
The relief pattern within the concrete carries through into the photo skin on the building.
This undulation of photo, building materials, art and architecture is about as surreal as you can get.
What is really fun is how they used the wallpaper pattern as actual wallpaper inside the building.
Continuing the concept of layering art and architecture, a print of the original piece hangs in hallway.
Around the corner from the entry hall, the wallpaper is replaced with white gallery walls and is used to showcase revolving shows.
The gallery hallways separate offices, warehouse spaces and the residential living quarters upstairs.
Within the hallway gallery small courtyards showcase trees – or are they? Here too art and architecture or in this case mother nature play with your sense of reality.
Of course, there are no such thing as brilliant blue or red trees in nature.
Next to the main entrance, around the corner from the wallpapered hall, is a stairwell that leads up to the living quarters.
More art lines the hallways upstairs.
Inside the apartments the living quarters have outdoor balconies that create the voids on the artsy facade.
The apartments are designed to include large swathes of uninterrupted wall space so the residents can create their own gallery walls.
This apartment is laid out in a linear design with the social zone at one end and the master suite at the other.
The ensuite is huge and while there is no fine art integrated into the design, the interior design and fixtures are like a 3D sculptural installation.
Stairwells inside the apartments lead to a roof top deck and different layouts create different locations for the stairwells.
Some of the units are smaller then others.
For the smaller units the ascending stairwell is not open underneath and uses the space for additional storage.
Artistic metal panels continue the art theme on the rooftop deck.
KUD
Samantha Everton
Photography by Peter Clarke
There are other examples of House facades tweaked with art but this is the first one that was done as a joint project between architect and artist.
