The serie started with Alvar Aalto's Riolo Parish Church, before working his way thorough an assortment of buildings that include Walter Gropius' Bauhaus school, Louis Kahn's Phillips Exeter Academy Library and Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. And it finishes with Zaha Hadid's Library and Learning Centre in Vienna, but also features Jørn Utzon's Sydney Opera House, Oscar Niemeyer's National Congress of Brazil and Gerrit Rietveld's Schröder House.
"The idea was to build a small microcosm of imaginary architecture on realistic foundations," said Fedérico Babina. "Each letter is a small surrealist building that becomes part of an imaginary city made up of different shapes and styles, all speaking the same language of architecture." Fedérico Babina draws the images using a mixture of different techniques, from hand-drawing to 3D computer modelling.
An alphabet is a standard set of letters which is used to write one or more languages based on the general principle that the letters represent phonemes of the spoken language. Architecture is an "international language", a system of communication. Its complex structure affords a wider range of possible expressions and uses.
The idea on which the Archibet project is based is to find a way to express through 26 illustrations the heterogeneity of forms and styles that make up the architecture. Each letter is drawn according to the interpretation of an architect's style. Each letter is a small surrealist architecture that becomes part of an imaginary city made up of different shapes and styles that speak the same language of architecture.
