Architecture at home in its community
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0:01 - 0:03My work focuses on the connection of
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0:03 - 0:07both thinking about our community life
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0:07 - 0:08being part of the environment
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0:08 - 0:11where architecture grows from the natural
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0:11 - 0:14local conditions and traditions.
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0:14 - 0:16Today I brought two recent projects
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0:16 - 0:18as an example of this.
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0:18 - 0:20Both projects are in emerging countries,
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0:20 - 0:24one in Ethiopia and another one in Tunisia.
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0:24 - 0:25And also they have in common
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0:25 - 0:28that the different analyses from different perspectives
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0:28 - 0:33becomes an essential part of the final piece of architecture.
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0:33 - 0:36The first example started with an invitation
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0:36 - 0:38to design a multistory shopping mall
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0:38 - 0:40in Ethiopia's capital city Addis Ababa.
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0:40 - 0:42And this is the type of building
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0:42 - 0:45we were shown as an example, to my team and myself,
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0:45 - 0:47of what we had to design.
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0:47 - 0:49At first, the first thing I thought was,
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0:49 - 0:51I want to run away.
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0:51 - 0:53(Laughter)
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0:53 - 0:56After seeing a few of these buildings --
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0:56 - 0:57there are many in the city --
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0:57 - 1:01we realized that they have three very big points.
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1:01 - 1:03First, these buildings, they are almost empty
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1:03 - 1:05because they have very large shops
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1:05 - 1:08where people cannot afford to buy things.
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1:08 - 1:11Second, they need tons of energy to perform
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1:11 - 1:13because of the skin treatment with glass
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1:13 - 1:15that creates heat in the inside,
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1:15 - 1:16and then you need a lot of cooling.
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1:16 - 1:18In a city where this shouldn't happen
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1:18 - 1:20because they have really mild weather
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1:20 - 1:24that ranges from 20 to 25 degrees the whole year.
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1:24 - 1:27And third is that their image has nothing to do
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1:27 - 1:29with Africa and with Ethiopia.
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1:29 - 1:35It is a pity in a place that has such rich culture and traditions.
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1:35 - 1:38Also during our first visit to Ethiopia,
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1:38 - 1:40I was really captivated by the old merkato
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1:40 - 1:42that is this open-air structure
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1:42 - 1:44where thousands of people, they go and buy things
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1:44 - 1:46every day from small vendors.
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1:46 - 1:49And also it has this idea of the public space
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1:49 - 1:52that uses the outdoors to create activity.
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1:52 - 1:55So I thought, this is what I really want to design,
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1:55 - 1:57not a shopping mall.
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1:57 - 2:00But the question was how we could do a multistory,
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2:00 - 2:03contemporary building with these principles.
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2:03 - 2:06The next challenge was when we looked at the site,
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2:06 - 2:08that is, in a really growing area of the city,
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2:08 - 2:11where most of these buildings that you see in the image,
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2:11 - 2:12they were not there.
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2:12 - 2:15And it's also between two parallel streets
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2:15 - 2:17that don't have any connection for hundreds of meters.
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2:17 - 2:21So the first thing we did was to create a connection
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2:21 - 2:22between these two streets,
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2:22 - 2:25putting all the entrances of the building.
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2:25 - 2:27And this extends with an inclined atrium
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2:27 - 2:30that creates an open-air space in the building
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2:30 - 2:32that self-protects itself with its own shape
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2:32 - 2:34from the sun and the rain.
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2:34 - 2:36And around this void
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2:36 - 2:39we placed this idea of the market with small shops,
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2:39 - 2:43that change in each floor because of the shape of the void.
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2:43 - 2:45I also thought, how to close the building?
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2:45 - 2:47And I really wanted to find a solution
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2:47 - 2:51that would respond to the local climate conditions.
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2:51 - 2:53And I started thinking about the textile
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2:53 - 2:55like a shell made of concrete
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2:55 - 2:58with perforations that would let the air in,
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2:58 - 3:01and also the light, but in a filtered way.
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3:01 - 3:07And then the inspiration came from these beautiful
patterns of the Ethiopian women's dresses. -
3:07 - 3:09That they have fractal geometry properties
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3:09 - 3:11and this helped me to shape the whole facade.
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3:11 - 3:13And we are building that
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3:13 - 3:15with these small prefabricated pieces
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3:15 - 3:18that are the windows that let the air and the light
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3:18 - 3:20in a controlled way inside the building.
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3:20 - 3:22And this is complemented by these small colored glasses
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3:22 - 3:25that use the light from the inside of the building
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3:25 - 3:28to light up the building at night.
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3:28 - 3:32With these ideas it was not easy first to convince the developers
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3:32 - 3:33because they were like,
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3:33 - 3:36"This is not a shopping mall. We didn't ask for that."
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3:36 - 3:42But then we all realized that this idea of the market
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3:42 - 3:44happened to be a lot more profitable than the idea of the shopping mall
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3:44 - 3:47because basically they had more shops to sell.
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3:47 - 3:51And also that the idea of the facade was much, much cheaper,
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3:51 - 3:54not only because of the material compared with the glass,
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3:54 - 3:56but also because we didn't need to have air conditioning anymore.
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3:56 - 3:58So we created some budget savings
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3:58 - 4:00that we used to implement the project.
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4:00 - 4:02And the first implementation was to think
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4:02 - 4:05about how we could make the building self-sufficient in terms of energy
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4:05 - 4:09in a city that has electricity cuts almost every day.
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4:09 - 4:13So we created a huge asset by placing photovoltaics there on the roof.
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4:13 - 4:15And then under those panels
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4:15 - 4:19we thought about the roof like a new public space with gathering areas and bars
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4:19 - 4:22that would create this urban oasis.
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4:22 - 4:23And these porches on the roof,
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4:23 - 4:28all together they collect the water to reuse for sanitation on the inside.
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4:28 - 4:33Hopefully by the beginning of next year, because we are already on the fifth floor of the construction.
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4:33 - 4:36The second example is a master plan
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4:36 - 4:40of 2,000 apartments and facilities in the city of Tunis.
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4:40 - 4:44And for doing such a big project, the biggest project I've ever designed,
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4:44 - 4:46I really needed to understand the city of Tunis,
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4:46 - 4:50but also its surroundings and the tradition and culture.
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4:50 - 4:53During that analysis I paid special attention to the medina
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4:53 - 4:57that is this 1,000-year-old structure that used to be closed by a wall,
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4:57 - 5:01opened by twelve different gates, connected by almost straight lines.
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5:01 - 5:06When I went to the site, the first design operation we did
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5:06 - 5:10was to extend the existing streets, creating 12 initial blocks
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5:10 - 5:13similar in size and characteristics to the ones we have in Barcelona
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5:13 - 5:16and other cities in Europe with these courtyards.
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5:16 - 5:19On top of that, we selected some strategic points
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5:19 - 5:22reminded of this idea of the gates and connecting them by straight lines,
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5:22 - 5:25and this modified this initial pattern.
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5:25 - 5:27And the last operation was to think about the cell,
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5:27 - 5:30the small cell of the project, like the apartment,
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5:30 - 5:32as an essential part of the master plan.
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5:32 - 5:35And for that I thought, what would be the best orientation
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5:35 - 5:37in the Mediterranean climate for an apartment?
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5:37 - 5:42And it's north-south, because it creates a thermal difference between both sides of the house
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5:42 - 5:45and then a natural ventilation.
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5:45 - 5:48So we overlap a pattern that makes sure that most of the apartments
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5:48 - 5:51are perfectly oriented in that direction.
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5:51 - 5:52And this is the result
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5:52 - 5:56that is almost like a combination of the European block and the Arab city.
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5:56 - 5:57It has these blocks with courtyards,
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5:57 - 5:58and then on the ground floor
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5:58 - 6:01you have all these connections for the pedestrians.
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6:01 - 6:04And also it responds to the local regulations that establish
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6:04 - 6:07a higher density on the upper levels and a lower density on the ground floor.
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6:07 - 6:11And it also reinforces this idea of the gates.
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6:11 - 6:13The volume has this connecting shape
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6:13 - 6:16that shades itself with three different types of apartments
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6:16 - 6:20and also lets the light go on the ground floor in a very dense neighborhood
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6:20 - 6:23And in the courtyards there are the different facilities,
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6:23 - 6:24such as a gym and a kindergarten
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6:24 - 6:28and close by, a series of commercial [spaces] that bring activity to the ground floor.
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6:28 - 6:31The roof, which is my favorite space of the project
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6:31 - 6:35is almost like giving back to the community the space taken by the construction.
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6:35 - 6:37And it's where all the neighbors, they can go up and socialize,
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6:37 - 6:41and do activities such as having a two-kilometer run in the morning,
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6:41 - 6:44jumping from one building to another.
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6:44 - 6:47These two examples,
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6:47 - 6:50they have a common approach in the design process.
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6:50 - 6:53And also, they are in emerging countries where you can see
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6:53 - 6:55the cities literally growing.
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6:55 - 6:59In these cities, the impact of architecture in people's lives of today and tomorrow
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6:59 - 7:05changes the local communities and economies at the same speed as the buildings grow.
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7:05 - 7:07For this reason, I see even more importance
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7:07 - 7:12to look at architecture finding simple but affordable solutions
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7:12 - 7:16that enhance the relationship between the community and the environment
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7:16 - 7:20and that aim to connect nature and people.
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7:20 - 7:22Thank you very much.
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7:22 - 7:24(Applause)
- Title:
- Architecture at home in its community
- Speaker:
- Xavier Vilalta
- Description:
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When TED Fellow Xavier Vilalta was commissioned to create a multistory shopping mall in Addis Ababa, he panicked. Other centers represented everything he hated about contemporary architecture: wasteful, glass towers requiring tons of energy whose design had absolutely nothing to do with Africa. In this charming talk, Vilalta shows how he champions an alternative approach: to harness nature, reference design tradition and create beautiful, modern, iconic buildings fit for a community.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 07:44
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Wei Wu commented on English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Architecture at home in its community |
Wei Wu
3:01 - 3:07
And then the inspiration came from these beautiful buttons of the Ethiopian women's dresses.
It seems like that the 'buttons' should be 'patterns'.