«I am representing architectural interiors, not as mere inanimate scenarios, but like sets of portraits of everyday life,» he said. Created by Italian architect and illustrator Federico Babina, the Archilife series pairs 17 Hollywood film stars with some of the most famous architect-designed residences of the 20th century, from Gerrit Rietveld’s Schröder House to the Haufmann House by Richard Neutra. «I wanted to do a graphic exercise of including life in a place born and meant for people,» said Babina, whose last project involved placing the silhouettes of architects within a window from one of their buildings. «I have never liked the lack of life in the architectural representations that are often aseptic, clean and neutral,» he explained. «I often enjoy imagining what life would be like in these static images.»
Babina depicts Marilyn Monroe lounging on a daybed inside Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. «Who better than some of the myths of cinema to help me animate these scenes and to play themselves into a frame of an ordinary day?»
Some pairings are more likely than others – French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo is shown inside Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre in Paris, while American actor Jack Nicholson becomes the resident of Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea in western Finland. There’s also one appearance from a film director – Alfred Hitchcock is depicted in the bathroom of the Villa Savoye. Related story: Architect silhouettes pose inside iconic windows for Federico Babina’s Archiwindow series
Each image shows the actor in the middle of some domestic activity, so Hepburn can be found meditating on a rug within the Eames house, while Cary Grant is ironing a shirt inside Oscar Niemeyer’s Casa de Canoas. Another image shows Michael Caine vacuuming the carpet inside the Esherick House by Louis Kahn, while Paul Newman can be found talking on the phone inside Philip Johnson’s Glass House. «In these pictures I try to exalt the ‘banality of everyday life’ by famous performers employed in simple actions that interact with the space that hosts them.»
A final detail that can be spotted throughout the series is the addition of artwork on the walls of the buildings. Babina – whose previous illustrations have combined architecture with artworks, album covers, and even the faces of architects – said he came up with the idea for the project after studying photographs of numerous buildings and finding little household activity. On closer inspection, these are revealed as images from Babina’s Archiportraits series.
