{"id":81210,"date":"2025-05-07T06:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T06:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/81210\/"},"modified":"2025-05-07T06:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T06:59:12","slug":"romain-jacquet-lagreze-documents-life-at-the-top-of-hong-kongs-soaring-architecture-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/81210\/","title":{"rendered":"Romain Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze Documents Life at the Top of Hong Kong’s Soaring Architecture \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid the frenzied bustle that is city life, it can be difficult\u2014and even dangerous\u2014to stop and observe what happens above street level. For French photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze<\/a>, though, looking to the upper floors of residential buildings and commercial towers in Hong Kong has revealed an astonishing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

In his new book, Echoing Above, Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze documents the trees, birds, and men who occupy the city\u2019s sky-high dimension. \u201cHong Kong\u2019s unique density has made the city grow vertically, and I have been inspired by the different aspects that this density brings, from an architectural\u00a0point of view and also how\u00a0it\u00a0has shaped the relationship between men and nature in this\u00a0city,\u201d he tells Colossal. <\/p>\n

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With the South China Sea wrapping three sides and a vast territory devoted to public parks, the region has been largely immune to the horizontal sprawl that characterizes many urban areas. Instead, locals have built up and up, their residences soaring high above the ground.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in PetaPixel<\/a>, Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze typically scouts locations on walks around Hong Kong, where he\u2019s lived for nearly a decade. Kowloon\u2014once home to the legendary walled enclave<\/a>\u2014is his favorite place to shoot as the vibrant architecture, laundry hanging from windows, and signs of wear bear traces of the people who have left their mark on the city. He\u2019s especially drawn to workers who might dangle off a facade or drill holes amid bamboo scaffolding, in part because they require patience and focus to spot.<\/p>\n

Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze\u2019s photos juxtapose balconies and window air-conditioning units with natural life, including the opportunistic Chinese Banyan that sprouts from many roofs. Birds typically eat its small figs and drop the seeds across the city, allowing the hardy trees to sprout amid even inhospitable concrete. \u201cThey can thrive and reach very large sizes until it becomes dangerous for the building and has to be taken down,\u201d he says, noting that it seems there\u2019s always one being rooted out.<\/p>\n

Despite its ubiquity, this cycle of growth and transplanting happens so far overhead that, from street view, it can easily go unnoticed. \u201cI find it beautiful to see how the presence of trees, men, and birds are taking turns above our heads, like\u00a0an echo in a concrete canyon,\u201d the photographer adds. His images also capture the interplay of light of shadow as entire sides of buildings are blanketed in darkness, reminding us of how little sunlight reaches the ground floor.<\/p>\n

Echoing Above and other books are available on Jacquet-Lagr\u00e8ze\u2019s website<\/a>, and some of this photo series will be on view this month at Blue Lotus Gallery<\/a> in Hong Kong. Find much more on Instagram<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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