Music: The Latest Architecture and News

Videos

The old adage "writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (it's stupid etc.), loses some of its impact when architecture becomes the backdrop for both music, and dancing. Ever since video killed the radio star, famous houses, quirky spaces, and history's great buildings have provided beautiful, unique and dramatic settings for music videos of all types. So which of 2017s music videos have capitalized on the wonderful world of architecture? 

Thespaces.com have compiled a list of the best music videos for architecture lovers for 2017. Here are a few of our favorites and a few additional videos we think deserve a mention.

In the age of green screen backgrounds, hyperrealistic renderings and the endless run of superhero movies that rely heavily on special effects, some directors are still betting on turning cities into protagonists of their music videos. In the nineties, Michael Jackson visited Brazil and filmed They Do Not Care About Us in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in South America – but do you remember which city it was?

Here we compiled ten music videos where the cities, their neighborhoods and their inhabitants serve as the stage for actors, singers, and dancers to display their art around the world.

Can you recognize the cities where these music videos were filmed? Take the test below and find out.

Almost one year has passed since the music video release of 'Do It Right' by French artist Martin Solveig. Although deprived of a star-studded tennis match on this occasion, over 15 million viewers have been treated to stunning vistas of The Red Wall, a vibrant fortress of color designed by Ricardo Bofill in Calp, Spain.

As well as being an inspiration for hundreds of architects, who have admired its striking color palette and interlocking staircases, The Red Wall succeeded in capturing the imagination of Solveig and the team at Monsieur l'Agent, the French agency who produced the music video.

Videos

Architecture and music are two very different art forms – one is visual, tactile and logical; the other audial and emotional. So what happens when you bring these two artistic media together?

This is the idea explored by Chilean web series Insigne Sesiones, which aims to “[expose] he ideal mix between contemporary architecture and music, generating the first audiovisual project worldwide that officially joins these two disciplines.” For their first season, Insigne Sesiones invited six world-renowned musicians to perform their music in the intimate settings of some of the most celebrated works of Chilean architects across the country.

Check out the full first season below.

FAAB Architektura has designed a smog-fighting music academy on the site of a former military base in Cracow, Poland. In a city constantly tackling air pollution, FAAB has incorporated a 1300 square meter "Air Purifier" into their proposal, combating CO2 levels as effectively as 33,000 city trees. This system, however, is only one element in a music academy wholly integrated with its natural surroundings.

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Interiors is an Online Publication about the space between Architecture and Film, published by Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian. Interiors runs an exclusive column for ArchDaily that analyzes and diagrams films in terms of space.

Kanye West followed up his demented masterpiece Yeezus with an art project—an album never officially released, never officially completed, and one that is continuously being revised and restructured. It’s a continuous work in progress, a painting that’s never finished, which has evolved before our eyes (known by many titles including So Help Me God, Swish, Waves, until finally settling on the anachronistic The Life of Pablo).

It’s no wonder then that The Saint Pablo Tour, which kicked off in Indianapolis on August 25th, 2016 and is tentatively scheduled to end in Brooklyn on December 31st, 2016, feels unlike anything Kanye West has done before, while staying true to his creative vision. If 2013’s Yeezus Tour was an operatic experience that was more about the performance aspect, 2016’s Saint Pablo Tour is an active experience that is more about creating a Disneyesque attraction.

The Spaces has recently released a short film in which architect David Adjaye and his musician brother Peter Adjaye discuss their upcoming vinyl collaboration, which fuses music and architecture together to represent a multi-sensory experience.

In the film, the Adjaye brothers delve into several topics, like explaining their inspirations, David’s early ambitions as a DJ, and their upcoming soundtrack for the soon-to-be-opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.