This article was taken from the October 2011 issue of Wired
magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before
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Filip Dujardin was
frustrated. Having spent years as an architectural
photographer documenting other people's achievements, he too
wanted to design
buildings. But edifices unconfined by the forces that stymied
other artists, such as regulation, compromise - even the laws of
physics. So in 2007 he set about realising his constructions
another way: with the aid of his camera, a computer and some
"In the beginning, I made models with my children's Lego," explains the
40-year-old from his studio in Ghent, Belgium. "I photographed the
models to use as a kind of digital canvas on which to stick the
walls,windows and doors of other buildings."
Nowadays, the process is more honed. First, Dujardin creates a
virtual structure in Google SketchUp, a 3D-modelling tool.
After settling on a perspective for what will be the final artwork,
he converts the model into a 2D line drawing in Photoshop, and sets
about finding a "source building". He prefers older structures,
which provide a more authentic feel. "Buildings from the 60s or 70s
have a kind of patina," he says, "like archaeological discoveries."
Dujardin takes dozens of photographs of them from various
perspectives. "To achieve a result that's not too obviously
computer manipulated, it takes a lot of shooting," he says. He then
carefully layers the images on to the model in Photoshop and
manually adds shadows and contrast, using the source pictures as a
guide. The final piece is printed on ten limited-edition canvas
copies. After garnering an enthusiastic response in Belgium, his
works have been shown in Dubai and the US, and will be on display
in Zurich's Museum für Gestaltung from August 31.
"What interested me was to make surrealistic architecture
photorealistic," he explains. "People think my structures are real.
So, I suppose that's my main purpose accomplished."