Known for his subdued photographs of architecture and the built environment, Gardiner approaches Houston through the material qualities of its buildings and streetscapes, interstitial landscapes, and traces of human activity. His images are often unpopulated. Empty seats, circulation routes, playing fields, parking lots, and idle construction materials instead register the presence of collective life. The Astrodome and Rice Stadium emerge through fragments, oblique views, and shifting atmospheric conditions, situated within a city that is continually rebuilt and transformed. Taken together, these images raise urgent questions about preservation, heritage, adaptation, and the changing identity of Houston.
32 pages, 29.9 x 42 cm, softcover, Rice School of Architecture (Houston).