Seeing things in terms of their usefulness is a useful way of seeing things, especially the things we use all the time.
That’s why we understand our built environment primarily in material and functional terms. We see metal, brick and concrete structures and know they bear weight and provide shelter. We see sheets of glass and know they lighten the spaces and moods within. We see a building’s base, roof and walls and know its outer limits.
By removing our ability to see those limits, however, we can transpose our built environment from its practical, real-world context into a purely aesthetic space—a space where, if your imagination is up to it, the city’s surfaces appear to extend infinitely beyond their earthly and photographic bounds.
