michael wolf's images of density

i have lived in high-rise apartment buildings twice in my life. the scale of those buildings - which at the time were described in one instance as the largest of its time in this country and in the other instance was described as "the most luxurious" - have long since been eclipsed by massive structures that are more like small cities in terms of the number of people who call them home.

hong kong has long been associated with massive apartment towers, their scale being dictated in part by the need to locate large numbers of people in structures with relatively small footprints.

photographer michael wolf was born in munich, germany. he grew up in the united states and has been living in china for ten years. in that time, wolf has documented many of the features of the far east connected to repetition and detail. if you’d like to know and see more of his life, michael has generously provided a lovely scrapbook-like biography.

wolf has a very comprehensive website documenting his many photographic interests. one of his galleries is entitled “hong kong: the architecture of density.” here michael‘s lens captures the double-edged sword of urban density in which the whole is described by tiny repetitions of a single form that on closer inspection reveal their minute and unique qualities. in this way, the buildings act as visual metaphors for the people they house.

what i find interesting as i look at these images is how they flip back and forth between beauty . . .
and ugliness . . .
between the clinical visual precision of the twentieth century . . . and almost mediaeval decay . . .


for more images lin this series visit the architecture of density gallery.