Mountain Monuments

[Image: From the series the water, the dams, the landscape by photographer Eduoard Decam].

Eduoard Decam is a Barcelona-based French architect whose photographic project the water, the dams, the landscape won an EDF Foundation award back in 2006. The images in the series document massive hydrological installations in the Pyrenees Mountains of northeastern Spain, turning dams and spillways into abstract monuments, like some new piece of mountain infrastructure designed by Superstudio.
As Decam himself explained to A10 magazine: "I do not see the dam as a technical element in the mountain, but as part of the mountain, as a landscape."
Personally, I'm just blown away by the terraced stairways we see in the image, above; it's like some ultramodern update to the monastic retreats of Meteora, or perhaps even a new stage in Guild Wars.

(Spotted in A10, issue #19).

Comments are moderated.

If it's not spam, it will appear here shortly!


Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow...reminds me a lot of MC Escher's famous optical stairs, except of course this does have a beginning and an end. Nice find.

May 13, 2008 3:47 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It does have that feeling of an illustration in a fantasy adventure for children, the perspective Decam chose is great, has the appearance of an axonometric projection. Do you know where this series is being exhibited or if I can see any more images on the web?

May 13, 2008 9:29 AM  
Blogger Andrew H. said...

a new type for the italian 'via ferrata', or the pakistan and indian mountain forts.

...the via ferrousa

May 13, 2008 12:38 PM  
Blogger Rombsy said...


The sheer vertiginousness of it reminds me of this
palpitation-inducing video.

May 13, 2008 1:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

http://www.thebalde.net/thb35/paisaia.html

May 14, 2008 8:07 AM  
Blogger Geoff Manaugh said...

Anonymous, that link is already in the post - but thanks for reminding everyone.

Nice video, Rombsy. And, Andrew H., you might like this older post on BLDGBLOG, speaking of the Via Ferrata: The bridged architecture of adjacent peaks.

May 14, 2008 10:33 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I prefer the term "god-finger" instead of "dam." Dam is a curse word and not fit for public use.

May 14, 2008 2:53 PM  
Blogger Al said...

maybe im wrong but the water at the bottom looks photoshoped..it must be tempting too photoshop these kind of images.

May 15, 2008 1:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The link to thebalde.net is not in fact in the post (according to "view source".) But there's an interesting link to http://paste-url-here/ at this moment.

May 15, 2008 3:33 PM  
Blogger Geoff Manaugh said...

Oops. I edited it out somehow. It's now in there.

May 15, 2008 8:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

more info in :

archiskatecture

May 22, 2008 5:57 AM  

Post a Comment