aldo rossi's gallaratese housing complex is captured on film by skyler dahan

for his latest photography series, skyler dahan travelled 30 minutes outside of milan, italy, to document the shapes and colors that define the ‘gallaratese II’ apartment complex. commissioned in 1967 to carlo aymonino, the italian architect would later invite aldo rossi to design one of the five buildings that make up the housing project. completed in the mid 1970s and inspired by modernist theories, the architecture expresses aymonino and rossi’s shared vision of forming an ideal satellite urban community.

a local inhabitant exiting the complex

all images © skyler dahan

enamoured by the unique circular forms and symmetrical windows of gallaratese, dahan captured the ‘real life lego set’ using a contax 645 medium format camera and kodak portra film. the photographer then scanned the negatives and worked in photoshop to achieve his desired image. by utilizing film instead of a digital camera, the project results in a more authentic series of photos that perfectly depict the atmosphere of the housing complex.

an elderly man walking up the stairs to his apartment

in addition to documenting the architectural features, such as the open decks and outdoor amphitheater, dahan also includes the residents of the housing complex in the series. by seeing the tall buildings in contrast to the actual inhabitants, audiences are reminded that people still live there, breathing life into this giant toy construction.

a young girl running about the complex after returning home from day school

an elderly man strolling the complex

an elderly woman in her apartment peering into the distance

a glimpse of the outdoor amphitheater

project info:

project name: ‘gallaratese housing II’

project type: photography series

location: gallaratese, milan, italy

photography: skyler dahan

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom