Hip-Hop Architecture Remixes Global Design

Sullivan takes us on a world tour of hip-hop architecture from "[t]he audacious" Earl S. Bell in New York to Mokena Makeka of South Africa and King Kong Architects of Bordeaux, France.

"Architecture related to hip-hop is about built ideas inspired of music and dance, drawing in part from artistic ideas like sampling and rapping," writes Sullivan. "Even more to the point, it's mainly an urban form, one meant to be highly inventive while also addressing issues like poverty and blight - but also the material desires we associate with aspiring DJs and emcees."

"Like the musical forms of the same name, it has some clear references to African culture. But we also see vibrant palettes, material innovation and clever juxtapositions. Some of it is gritty, but just as much is utopistic, space-age and Zen."