Konkret Abstrakt Gesehen

This book collects together new architectural photography by Karl Lagerfeld, including the celebrated buildings of Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando, among others. Central to Lagerfeld’s aesthetic are the buildings’ architectonic details, and the title Konkret Abstrakt Gesehen (“concrete seen abstractly”) reveals the basis of Lagerfeld’s vision. He sees architecture as not merely functional, but a source of abstract patterns, forms, lines and textures, defined by light in space. Lagerfeld’s aim is thus not to document the structures he sees, but to reconceivethem in photographic form. Konkret Abstrakt Gesehen is the latest chapter in Lagerfeld’s ongoing photographic interpretation of architecture, documented in such books as Schloßhotel, Modern Italian Architecture and Villa Jako, all published by Steidl.