cody ellingham captures shanghai architecture rising up through red mist

cody ellingham, the photographer responsible for ‘danchi dreams’ photo series of japanese architecture, brings yet another incredible exploration of the world’s cities with his recent wanderings in shanghai, china. on the edge of a rooftop, overlooking the old colonial architecture of yesteryear, his images peer through time and place at the impossible glass and steel rising up through the red mist of a belligerent summer thunderstorm.

shanghai was china’s most western city and everywhere the decaying remains of old french and british architecture lie stationary under the rapidly growing shadow of new china. ellingham’s process of wandering to discover the true nature of a place is the basis for the name of his project ‘derive shanghai’.

‘I came here to capture this, this machine, this city. the only way to do that is to walk its streets,’ says ellingham. ‘people focus on the new or the old, but rarely both. a place is not just as it is, but the result of everything it has been before.’

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: maria erman | designboom