The Bare Essentials: 12 Minimalist Illustrations of Iconic Architecture

Samuel Medina Samuel Medina

Yeah, we thought minimalist posters were done, too. Still, though they’re a little late to the game, these prints by Portuguese artist and illustrator André Chiote are intriguing in their own right. Chiote’s work delivers everything we’ve come to expect (and smugly sneer at) from the design meme: simple geometric lines and bold colors that consume the entirety of the composition. Here, the modern and contemporary structures Chiote takes as his subjects are, for the most part, reduced to a few building details or formal snapshots. Context doesn’t enter the equation, except in the case of Niemeyer’s Niterói Contemporary Art Museum, where the hills of Rio de Janeiro entice in the background.

Chiote’s cannon is vast, ranging from modernist icons like Breuer’s Whitney museum and a couple of Niemeyer works to newer landmarks like Gehry’s Vitra Design Museum, Zumthor’s Kolumba Museum, Piano’s LACMA. Inclusions like UNStudio’s Mercedes-Benz Studio and Eduoardo Souto de Moura’s Casa das Histórias seemed to have made the cut for their easy transposition to the medium.

[All images: André Chiote]

[via This Isn’t Happiness]

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