Pet Architecture

In "Small Businesses" at The Smart Set, Lisa Anne Auerbach looks at free-standing small businesses, "modest monuments to individualism and self-sufficiency," spurred by her experience of Los Angeles on a bike instead of the typical, in a car. The images remind me of Atelier Bow-Wow's Pet Architecture Guide Book, that duo's exploration of the small structures that fill the gaps in Tokyo's dense urbanism. Like that study, these images are of their place (primarily in and around LA but also South Carolina, Idaho, London, and even Jamaica), most notably being free-standing -- a very American trait -- and dolled up with signage, color, and/or some sort of formal gesture to attract attention.


Botanica - Highland Park, CA 2003

"Small free-standing businesses are the proverbial canaries in the coal mines, the first to go when gentrification comes knocking. They are the businesses most sensitive to economic shifts, riding a delicate wave in the landscape of commerce. Individualistic, anachronistic, sometimes quizzical, always compelling, these spaces between places provide anchors of sanity and ingenuity in an increasingly homogenized landscape."

(Thanks to Jesse for the head's up!)