Reader Louis Schulz recently sent me a link to an unbelievable bent of photograph byEric Valli , a French lensman andformer cabinetmakerwhose body of work has take him all over the human race visiting , among other places , the vertiginous and mind - bend world of “ honey huntsman ” in the Himalayas .
However , Louis specifically string my attention to the visual similarities between the so - called “ Shadow Hunters ” of underground Thailand and the work of architectLebbeus Woods .
“ In the dark caves of Thailand , ” Valli explains , “ generations of hands have risked their lives to obtain a prized trade good - edible bird ’s nest , all-important ingredient of a traditional Chinese soup . ”
hand these nest - found deep within coastal and wad cave - requires the grammatical construction and usage of bamboo staging , complicated and rickety architectures of ladder , cranes , attachments , and almost invisible foothold through which the nest - hunters must paradoxically , in a sensory faculty , uprise into the already claustrophobic spaces underground .
Lit only by torchlight , these nest lashed together by humans to reach the nest lather together by birds are extraordinary and gymnastic construction , well - compared , I consider , toLebbeus ’s work , paint a picture a unique theatrical stage - set or stadium for apparently impossible spacial sport .
Contrast this , for representative , with thefarmed equivalentof these wild caves , where snort ’s nest are fundamentally grown to order inside windowless monolith , what Nicola Twilley describes as “ custom build concrete hoot ’ nest factories … tower above traditional one - tale structures and metamorphose the urban landscape painting ” in Asiatic cities .
The internal invention of these wench ’s nest farm - or swiftlet hotels , as they are sometimes called - is fascinating : the buildings are intended to mimic cave , with a carefully space matrix of wooden rafters exchange the ledge and crannies of a cave cap , and elaborated aid give to internal temperature , humidness , and even go
In any typesetter’s case , how fantastic it would be to see a slight tract someday documenting these vulgar structures - subterranean nest - harvest home infrastructures from the mountain caves of Thailand - perhaps something fromPrinceton Architectural Pressor a feature inDomus . SeeEric Valli ’s websitefor more .
Image : Photo by , and right of first publication , Eric Vallifrom “ Shadow Hunters . ” Thanks to Louis Schultz for the radio link .
This post in the first place appeared on BLDGBLOG .
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