Sign up   /   Log in
Sections
Specials
Magazine
Lingua

Spying on Moscow

Shoot with a drone, the series by Russian photographer Denis Esakov recounts Moscow’s buildings with the view that only architects have with their models: the Fifth Facade.

View Article details
  • 05 September 2017
  • Moskow

A pedestrian in the city sees buildings in the context of the city landscape, with the facades as main attraction.

Architects and engineers are focused on construction and design, and urbanists consider individual buildings solely as elements of the city complex. Thus the angle of observation influences the reception of the objects: viewing from above, onto the “fifth facade” that barely anyone sees, opens completely different dimensions.

Denis Esakov’s Fifth Facade series is strong on rationalism, but also contains an emotional aspect. Balancing on the border between documentary and artistic architectural photography, Esakov manages to create works in the spirit of ‘straight photography’ which combine originality of format and maximal accuracy of depiction.

Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. <b/>Top:</b> Natalya Sats Musical Theatre, architect A.A. Velikanov et al, 1975–1979. <b>Above:</b> Universal Sports Hall Friendship, architect I.E. Rozhin et al, 1979
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Northern River Port Terminal, architect A.M. Rukhlyadev et al, 1932-1937
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Rusakov Worker's Club, architect K.S. Melnikov, 1927-1929
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Khavsko-Shabolovsky Residential Complex, architect N.N. Travin et al, 1927-1930
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. House on Embankment, architect B.M. Iofan et al, 1928-1931
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Zelenograd Central Square, architect I.A. Pokrovsky et al, 1975
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Cosmos Hotel, architect V.S. Andreev et al, 1976-1979
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Dinamo Sport Palace, architect E.G. Rozanov et al, 1977-1980
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Moscow Youth Palace, architect J.B. Belopolsky et al, 1972-1982
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Ambassador's House Residential Complex, architect A.A. Skokan et al, 2004
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. ARMA Factory Office Complex, architect V.S. Labutin et al, 2012-2015
Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Garden Quarters Residential Complex, architect S.A. Skuratov et al, 2010-2018

  The increasingly popular technique of drone photography gives us the ability to fly over familiar buildings and to see them from above, exposing to us the fifth facade which is usually concealed from our eyes. Until recently, it was only architects themselves and their clients who had the opportunity to examine models of buildings and see them from all sides. In his Fifth Facade series Esakov does not try to pick out individual parts of a building; what interests him is the building as a whole. Rejecting purely artistic effects, decorativeness, and attempts to transform reality into something else, the photographer spent more than a year painstakingly working on his series in order to create a “volumetric portrait” of each building.  

The complete Fifth Facade project is a book: Spying on Moskow. A Winged Guide to Architecture published by DOM Publishers. Each building has been photographed with three pictures; two are taken from above and the third is taken from the perspective of an observer at ground-level.

Denis Esakov, the Fifth Facade. Aerobus Residential Complex, architect V.I. Plotkin et al, 2004-2007

Denis Esakov was born in Karakol in Kyrgyzstan in 1984, and lives in Moscow. His works have been published in leading architectural publications such as The Architectural Review (UK), MARK (NL), The Modernist (UK), ORIS (CR), The Calvert Project (UK) and exhibited at the V Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Shusev State Museum of Architecture, Moscow Manege, Gallery of Classical Photography.

Leggi tutto