Emoji-Ornamentation?
Throughout history, architectural symbology has taken on a breadth of emotion and time-oriented significance... but I think that this is the first smiley face I've ever seen on a facade.
"In classical architecture they used heads of the king or whatever, and they put that on the façade. So we were thinking, what can we use as an ornament so when you look at this building in 10 or 20 years you can say ‘hey this is from that year!’. The cast concrete characters express a range of familiar emoji emotions, including the classic sad and happy styles, the instantly-recognizable kissing face, and the much-loved heart eyes personality." - Design statement from Attika Architeckten
In the Netherlands - the design firm "Attika Architekten" has designed a series of residential / office / commercial buildings that feature some very familiar faces. Across the facade, there are 22 emoticons in white cast-concrete. The grid of emojis are organized is a grid pattern identifying the foot and head of the rectilinear building structure. Their design is meant to be truly contemporary, embracing icons of pop culture to the fullest.
Fellow Steemians,
I have not fully grasped the wide reaching implications of emojis being cast into stone. So, what do you think? Are these smileys destined to be building blocks for 21st century architecture? Is this a fad, or really a new norm?
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