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InspirationIllustration

If you were a building, what type of building would you be?

If you were a building, what type of building would you be? That is the question that Barcelona-based illustrator and architect Federico Babina used as inspiration to create his latest work – 'Archist'. The series imagines the creative architectural structures of how many famous artists might look like if they were a modern building design.

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Illustrated cityscape showing seven rows of colourful, geometric buildings each representing the architectural style of a famous artist including Mondrian, Warhol and Dalí

Drawing upon each artist's iconic style – including Warhol, Picasso, Miro, Lichtenstein, Dali, Kapoor and Mondrian – Babina mimics them by sketching buildings that combine signature colour palettes and familiar shapes. You will undoubtedly identify each artist, and see how closely related art and architecture really can be.

Modernist building illustration with coloured grid panels and minimal figures, representing Andy Warhol's artistic style in Federico Babina's Archist series
Cubist-style building with angular orange and black forms and geometric windows, representing Picasso's architectural interpretation in the Archist series
Gerhard Richter's architectural interpretation as a modern building with a grid of coloured rectangles and a dark base, flanked by silhouetted figures
Stylised building with dotted pink walls, red chimney, dark striped section and yellow base with small human figures, representing Roy Lichtenstein's artistic style
Stylised building with red, yellow and black horizontal sections on a cream background, representing Mark Rothko's artistic style
Geometric building illustration in blue and white with vertical striping representing artist Keith Haring, with small figures at ground level on cream background
Surrealist structure with melting white form and eye-like openings, representing Salvador Dalí's architectural interpretation by Federico Babina
Minimalist building illustration with a grid of colourful dots above a teal storefront, representing Damien Hirst's artistic style
Modernist building illustration for Josef Albers featuring geometric shapes and nested squares in grey and blue tones with small figures at ground level
Minimalist architectural elevation in rust and terracotta tones with geometric forms and small human figures, representing Richard Serra's sculptural style
Architectural drawing of a modernist building with primary coloured rectangular blocks, representing Mondrian's style, with small figures at ground level
Colourful geometric building design with stacked rectangular sections in red, yellow, green and blue, representing Peter Halley's artistic style
Stylised blue building facade with a red circular sun, yellow window, black geometric shapes and figures at ground level, representing Joan Miró's artistic style
A modernist building facade with a grid of coloured rectangular panels in red, orange, teal, black and yellow, representing Donald Judd's minimalist aesthetic, with silhouetted figures at ground level
Minimalist illustration of a large dark archway with a small blue building and silhouetted figures beneath it against a cream background, captioned Tony Smith and Archist
Minimalist architectural illustration of a tall rectangular tower with concentric black and white horizontal stripes and yellow accent bands, representing Frank Stella's artistic style
Stylised building with stacked coloured sections in white, green, yellow, brown and black with a zigzag connector, representing Anne Truitt's architectural style
Minimalist architectural illustration of a building topped with a tall red cone, representing artist Anish Kapoor's sculptural style
A geometric architectural illustration of a modernist building with stacked coloured blocks in browns and reds, a conical white tower, and a bicycle wheel on top, representing Marcel Duchamp's style
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