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Idea by

Samantha Ong, Amanda Sarantos, Emir Abdul-Emir

placehold

http://placehold.us

New York City, United States of America
PLACEHOLD is a New York-based partnership between Samantha Ong and Amanda Sarantos. We’re dedicated to thoughtful investigation with an emphasis on visual representation and idea articulation. We are graduates from the City College of New York with degrees related to architecture. With backgrounds in research and education, we create work to tell stories and instigate thought about our urban environment.

Call for ideas 2019

(blank)bomb, (blink)city


now what?

(blank)bomb, (blink)city


now what?
A spatial and social warning for an urban environment after the impact of a nuclear catastrophe.
File under
Type of project
  • New alliances

Our work investigates the role of political tension and fear in physically and socially shaping our cities and lives. We examine a precedent of anti-nuclear activism during Cold War era New York and then propose a speculative shelter solution for a city post-nuclear attack. The absurdity of our imagined proposal, as well as the idea of “nuclear preparation,” begins the dialogue about designers extending their responsibility beyond the tangible, particularly in different states of crisis.
On the behalf of our communities, is it up to the architects to design work that inspires hope and creates conditions for thriving urban landscapes rather than works that prepare for and justify irreversible destruction? Though our project imagines a nuclear dystopia, this surreal narrative brings attention to architecture’s role in shaping the attitude of the population— especially in dire situations. How do our methods of design and approaches to humanity translate spatially and thus, affect us all?



Imagined political poster for a government set on engaging in nuclear war. We imagine that the campaign would portray a positive take on the total destruction of the earth. Propaganda, right?

Post-detonation. A not so clean slate...surprise, surprise.

An architectural solution to living in a post-nuclear city. It isn’t the new, thriving city we were advertised. Instead, we’ve developed alongside the wreckage and radiation.

An alternate solution, calling for disarmament, rather than defense.
Let’s start here.

(blank)bomb, (blink)city


now what?

(blank)bomb, (blink)city


now what?
A spatial and social warning for an urban environment after the impact of a nuclear catastrophe.
File under
Type of project
  • New alliances

Our work investigates the role of political tension and fear in physically and socially shaping our cities and lives. We examine a precedent of anti-nuclear activism during Cold War era New York and then propose a speculative shelter solution for a city post-nuclear attack. The absurdity of our imagined proposal, as well as the idea of “nuclear preparation,” begins the dialogue about designers extending their responsibility beyond the tangible, particularly in different states of crisis.
On the behalf of our communities, is it up to the architects to design work that inspires hope and creates conditions for thriving urban landscapes rather than works that prepare for and justify irreversible destruction? Though our project imagines a nuclear dystopia, this surreal narrative brings attention to architecture’s role in shaping the attitude of the population— especially in dire situations. How do our methods of design and approaches to humanity translate spatially and thus, affect us all?



Imagined political poster for a government set on engaging in nuclear war. We imagine that the campaign would portray a positive take on the total destruction of the earth. Propaganda, right?

Post-detonation. A not so clean slate...surprise, surprise.

An architectural solution to living in a post-nuclear city. It isn’t the new, thriving city we were advertised. Instead, we’ve developed alongside the wreckage and radiation.

An alternate solution, calling for disarmament, rather than defense.
Let’s start here.


Idea by

Samantha Ong, Amanda Sarantos, Emir Abdul-Emir
placehold
New York City
United States of America
PLACEHOLD is a New York-based partnership between Samantha Ong and Amanda Sarantos. We’re dedicated to thoughtful investigation with an emphasis on visual representation and idea articulation. We are graduates from the City College of New York with degrees related to architecture. With backgrounds in research and education, we create work to tell stories and instigate thought about our urban environment.