Cholets, neo-Andean pop art architecture

March 24, 2021 12:41 PM

I Went On A Trip to El Alto, Bolivia, And Discovered A New Style Of Architecture. Houses that represent success in the Andean region, a growing economy and a renewed sense of indigenous pride. Previously.

Peru is the world's largest producer of quinoa. The cholets are often owned by quinoa farmers.

Triple Mamani: Mamani is a common Aymara name.

The architect of the "Neo-Andean baroque" style of cholet, a portmanteau combining chalet (large house) and chola (indigenous woman) is named Freddy Mamani. > - Mamani, 42, grew up herding llamas with his five siblings in the small farming village of Catavi, where he would build mud birdhouses in the hills.

Roberto Mamani Mamani is a well known Aymara artist who also paints the sides of the neo-andean buildings in El Alto, Bolivia.

posted by nickyskye (31 comments total)

I love colorful buildings. This is great.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:58 PM on March 24, 2021

I've encountered these before, but it only just occurred to me that many of them have almost a Syd Mead quality.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:07 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

The establishment mocked Arquitectonica when it started in Miami, until they became the darlings of the industry. They were similarly bright and quirky against a very staid community. I love the referential/reverential quality of the buildings shown.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 1:10 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

Super fun. Love them.
posted by adamrice at 1:16 PM on March 24, 2021

...have almost a Syd Mead quality.

I got a Jack Kirby vibe off them
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:21 PM on March 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

I got a Jack Kirby vibe off them

I can definitely see that too.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:22 PM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Why do several of them seem to have upper stories that are collapsing into the structure? There's some kind of visual illusion happening -- is it that the upper "penthouse" walls aren't on the axis of the lower structure or something? And why are they built that way?

(the site appears to ban links directly to images, or I'd point to specific buildings)
posted by aramaic at 1:26 PM on March 24, 2021

Interesting point aramaic. Do you think maybe the cholet was built on top of an existing ground floor structure?
posted by nickyskye at 1:40 PM on March 24, 2021

aramaic, it looks to me like many of those top stories are set back to allow a roof deck or patio, and some are set back at an angle.
posted by rikschell at 1:42 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

"the cholets have a fixed structure: on the first floor, there is a commercial activity – butcher’s shops, ironmongery’s stores, groceries. the second level hosts a party hall, while the third one has apartments for rent, and the owners live on the top floor."
posted by rikschell at 1:43 PM on March 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

They remind me of Heaven
posted by thivaia at 1:56 PM on March 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

YES these are the opposite of giant slick mirrored glass boxes they are color and ornamentation and lines and celebration and I LOVE IT
posted by Adridne at 2:10 PM on March 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

I love the IRL Monument Valley vibes
posted by Cash4Lead at 2:28 PM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

They look hyperreal, like they ought to be isometric pixel art or something.
posted by acb at 3:00 PM on March 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can't help but notice the very different street life outside these colorful structures...
posted by jim in austin at 3:28 PM on March 24, 2021

There's something so special about the very rare experience of seeing a style of architecture for the first time. And they're so beautiful with an almost musical rhythm to their shapes!
posted by treepour at 3:31 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

If you can find it, there's a great documentary called "CHOLET (The work of Freddy Mamani)", with interviews, walk throughs, etc.
I love Mamani's work, and often show him to my students as an example of designing for the actual people who will use your work, not for abstract design rules or 'good taste'.
I haven't been to Bolivia in a few decades, but used to go every summer when I was studying architecture. When I first saw pictures of Mamani's work, I immediately recognized so many elements of Andean culture and how he'd managed to synthesize them into a new, locally relevant, architectural style.
posted by signal at 4:00 PM on March 24, 2021 [13 favorites]

This is amazing and I adore it, and I very much want to read a comparison of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style (and the newly-rich of Chicago) to these!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:12 PM on March 24, 2021

signal, it's linked here: Cholet – the Work of Freddy Mamani, who built Salas de Eventos in El Alto, Bolivia
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:17 PM on March 24, 2021 [9 favorites]

A quarter of the volume is assembly halls? That seems like a lot, in a good way.
posted by clew at 4:58 PM on March 24, 2021

The thing that is hard to appreciate about these structures viewed individually is how especially startling they are in what is a fascinating but architecturally ugly city. Which is not a slam on El Alto; it's a different set of priorities about what people do with their limited resources besides stucco and paint.
posted by drlith at 5:19 PM on March 24, 2021

Amazing
posted by jacquilynne at 5:35 PM on March 24, 2021

I love these photos every time they get linked. I really want to see these in person someday.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:43 PM on March 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

It is interesting that AzraelBrown invokes Jack Kirby, since I thought this looked a little like Sakaar from Thor Ragnarok. Which Taika Waititi said was inspired by Jack Kirby's work.
posted by Badgermann at 6:08 AM on March 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've been nibbling around the edges of a post on these houses for a couple weeks but this is better than what I'd come up with. Thanks nickyskye.

The houses are great. I'm so tired of cookie cutter beige boxes locally. We have the ability to make long lasting house colours that would have made people a hundred and fifty years ago green with envy and we use it for beige, grey and dark beige. Ugh.
posted by Mitheral at 6:42 AM on March 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

I was going to paint my house deep purple. I can see I aimed far too low.
posted by tspae at 6:47 AM on March 25, 2021 [2 favorites]

Mamani! My favorite currently practicing architect! Wonderful post, thank you
posted by FirstMateKate at 8:08 AM on March 25, 2021

I have never seen anything like these buildings! They're so fantastical and colorful, and so clearly have their own, out-of-this-world design vocabulary. Looking at them feels like listening to a song in a language I don't understand and loving every second of it, even though I don't understand a word of the lyrics.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 5:31 PM on March 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

...have almost a Syd Mead quality.

I got a Jack Kirby vibe off them

Whereas I'm seeing pinball machines (in a good way).
posted by Nerd of the North at 8:57 PM on March 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

Thank you so much. I shared this with my creative team today as example of the bet of creativity and passion: conjuring the thing that needs to be and willing it into existence. Also I found them so almost garish in their expressive joy and yet perfect. I don't quite have the language for them yet. But definitely sparked some joy.
posted by TheAliceMunroSingers at 6:11 PM on March 26, 2021

...have almost a Syd Mead quality.
I got a Jack Kirby vibe off them
I was gonna go with "Inca-futurist Jim Woodring"
posted by evidenceofabsence at 12:33 PM on March 28, 2021