Designer re-imagines Lagos shanty towns as central high-rise commercial hub

To highlight inequality in Lagos’ living conditions, Nigerian-born designer Olalekan Jeyifous has created a dystopian vision of shanty-town towers.

Shanty Megastructures has changed shanty towns into high-rise buildings in central Lagos, the hub of Nigeria’s main industrial and commercial activities.

Jeyifous, based in New York, aimes to draw attention to poor standards of living within deprived settlements.

"These images juxtapose sites of privileged and much coveted real-estate throughout Lagos, Nigeria, with colossal vertical settlements representing marginalised and impoverished communities," Jeyifous told Dezeen.

"The dispossessed are given prominence and visibility, albeit through a somewhat dystopian vision, which highlights that these communities often suffer from a lack of appropriate sanitation, electricity, medical services, and modern communications," he said.

Lagos’ main shanty town is situated in the Makoko district, a lagoon on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Parts of the district have been knocked down by the government to clear space for private sector developments.

"It's a conversation about how slums are frequently viewed as unsightly eyesores to be bull-dozed, leaving their inhabitants completely displaced," the designer said.

"This is a standard practice that occurs from Chicago to Rio de Janiero, and throughout the world."
 

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SOURCE: [Dezeen]