| Project: | Ashes of Modernism |
| Year: | 2025 |
Ashes of Modernism is a large-format photo project, documenting the destruction of iconic modernist architecture following the great LA Fires of 2025. The shots were taken in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu, Pacific Coast Highway and Altadena.
These homes by pioneers like Richard Neutra, Gregory Ain, and Kemper Nomland once embodied openness, innovation, and harmony with nature. After the fires, only ruins remained. Light, air, and minimalism were once central to their design philosophy. Structures like Neutra’s Freedman House (1949), Gregory Ain’s Park Planned Homes (1947), A.C. Martins Chorpus Christi Church, an excellent example of New Formalist institutional architecture and the rare Bridges House (1991) now stand blackened, collapsed, or skeletal symbols of a lost architectural future.
These buildings were not just elegant; they carried social ideals, like Gregory Ain’s vision of accessible beauty and democratic housing. Therefore their loss isn’t just physical—it rather marks the erosion of cultural memory and a philosophy of living in balance with the environment.
But this devastation is not mere misfortune; it is a symptom of our climate crisis. In this age of rising heat and vanishing landmarks, how can we protect the fragile legacy of human creativity from being consumed by the elements like fire?
Extend of destruction:
6.837 structures were destroyed during the Pacific Palisades fires
1037 structures were damaged
9418 structures were destroyed during the Eaton Fires in Altadena
1071 structures were damaged
The total area burned by these fires is roughly one and a half times the size of the city of Paris itself.
This work can be printed in large scale of 400 centimeters in width.
These homes by pioneers like Richard Neutra, Gregory Ain, and Kemper Nomland once embodied openness, innovation, and harmony with nature. After the fires, only ruins remained. Light, air, and minimalism were once central to their design philosophy. Structures like Neutra’s Freedman House (1949), Gregory Ain’s Park Planned Homes (1947), A.C. Martins Chorpus Christi Church, an excellent example of New Formalist institutional architecture and the rare Bridges House (1991) now stand blackened, collapsed, or skeletal symbols of a lost architectural future.
These buildings were not just elegant; they carried social ideals, like Gregory Ain’s vision of accessible beauty and democratic housing. Therefore their loss isn’t just physical—it rather marks the erosion of cultural memory and a philosophy of living in balance with the environment.
But this devastation is not mere misfortune; it is a symptom of our climate crisis. In this age of rising heat and vanishing landmarks, how can we protect the fragile legacy of human creativity from being consumed by the elements like fire?
Extend of destruction:
6.837 structures were destroyed during the Pacific Palisades fires
1037 structures were damaged
9418 structures were destroyed during the Eaton Fires in Altadena
1071 structures were damaged
The total area burned by these fires is roughly one and a half times the size of the city of Paris itself.
This work can be printed in large scale of 400 centimeters in width.
