Dispatch from Istanbul: Kanyon shopping mall

Dystopian Republic went shopping in Istanbul, home of several malls including Europe's largest (Cevahir), and the subject of this posting, Kanyon. Set in the non-touristed neighborhood of Levent, and with direct access to the metro, Kanyon combines retail, commercial, entertainment, and residential in one complex (similar to Roppongi Hills but on a much smaller scale).

Kanyon was completed in 2006, and the architecture firm was The Jerde Partnership, the designers of Horton Plaza (San Diego), Mall of America (Minnesota), Universal CityWalk (Los Angeles), and the Bellagio (Las Vegas).

An inverted hemisphere dominates the main area of the mall, lending a distinctly sci-fi feeling to the space.














The sinous curves of the smaller open space seems to come from the tradition of Oscar Niemeyer. The fact that each level is closed off by glass makes the structure seem like it's bound for outer space, and not open to the "natural" elements in the middle.














Perhaps too new and flashy to be dystopian, Kanyon was the least popular of the malls visited, and downright deserted in most places at noon on a Saturday, signalling that its vision of an "alternative urban life centre" was over before it started.

Dispatch from Sao Paulo: Edificio Copan

Designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1950s (but not completed until the 60s), Edificio Copan is a residential building with retail on the ground floor.

Truly utopian in its conception, the building's 1,160 units were designed for both rich and poor, to bring everyone together.














The inability to see any windows, the eyes of the building, coupled with its singular, monumentality (it even has its own zip code), lend a dystopian slant to Niemeyer's vision.

Dispatch from Rio de Janeiro: Petrobas headquarters

Adjacent to the Catedral Metropolitana is the Petrobas headquarters building, designed by Roberto Gandolfi. The extensive use of negative interior spaces suggest a life where the natural world outside of the surface of the building is so polluted and dangerous, that green spaces on the interior need to be created for the inhabitants' wellbeing.

Dispatch from Rio de Janeiro: Catedral Metropolitana de Sao Sebastiao

If Asia and the Middle East are the future of Dystopian Architecture, a style evoking a future gone bad, then Brazil must be the grandfather. Many of Brazil's notable modern buildings were completed in the 70s, coinciding with the "Brazilian Miracle." That was a time of intense industrial and economic expansion, similar to the sites of contemporary Dystopian Architecture.

The Catedral Metropolitana de Sao Sebastiao is in Rio de Janeiro, and was designed by the architect Edgar de Oliveira de Fonseca. (amazingly little is written about this architect on the internet).

The forbidding grey concrete, perforated with flaps that don't appear to let any light in, suggests a self-contained city of identical units, stretching to the sky. The angle at which the cathedral meets the ground is slightly sinister, but being truncated at the top vs. coming to a point seems to make it a bit friendlier.














Upon entering the cathedral, you see that light does come in to illuminate vast stained glass windows. As the stained glass reaches all the way to the ceiling, they come to a cross.



















The perforations do indeed let light in but just a little, so that the interior space is still cloaked in darkness.