I found my passion for the built environment through photography.

I use photography to ask questions about the values that shape the built environment. While living in a world of “McDonald’s hamburger buildings”, the answers to these questions are occasionally underwhelming. But what these corporate buildings, and the landscapes they are part of, emphasize is the importance of what happens after a building is built. It is why my photography and interest in the built environment is centered around two ideas - ‘domicology’ and ‘platform urbanism’.

Domicology is the study of the lifecycle of the built environment, coined by Dr. Rex Lamore of Michigan State University. I am interested in how buildings adapt, or fail to adapt, to new uses and how time affects our use and perception of the built environment. Platform Urbanism is a field of study interested in how digital spaces affect physical places. I am interested in how e-commerce, social media, and navigation apps affect our movement, and lack of movement, to and through physical spaces.

“McDonald’s Hamburger buildings” is a quote from Michi Slick