A new work by the artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude? No, when buildings are being scaffolded in Hong Kong, long pieces of fabric end up on the bamboo poles. What looks like veiling art, is to catch rubble and dust.

When photographer Peter Steinhauer traveled to Hong Kong for the first time in 1993, he discovered one of these covered buildings right at the airport. "I was immediately fascinated because I had never seen anything like it," he recalls.

In the following years, Steinhauer visited the city several more times and took more pictures of these packed houses each time. When he moved with his family from Saigon to Hong Kong in 2007, he had more time for his photo project. For hours he drove through the city from now on, always in search of new construction sites.

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Peter Steinhauer:
Cocoons

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Once he found one, the biggest challenge was finding a good angle for taking pictures. Steinhauer climbed over fences, walls and through embankments or set up his tripod on his car roof. He photographed on balconies, from windows or from roofs of surrounding buildings.

Fortunately, there is a law in Hong Kong prohibiting the denial of access to roofs for residents. Steinhauer secretly climbed the roof of many people to have a good vantage point at the top. For hours he sometimes had to hold out there until it did not rain or the light was right.

Steinhauer shows 120 skyscrapers covered in his illustrated book "Cocoons". The name is an allusion to the material under which the buildings transform like a cocoon. When unveiled, they show up in a brand new facade. "Like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly," says the photographer.

Steinhauer often does not show the buildings in their entirety, but selects individual views and details. Some of his photos were taken at night when lamps illuminate the cranes. "It was mysterious and strange, but absolutely fascinating," says Steinhauer.

photo gallery


10 pictures

Photo gallery: Fabric at construction

Wherever he photographed, Steinhauer was usually asked what attracted him to construction sites. "I want to keep the story of a city that never stops changing," he says. The Hong Kongers still feel a dislike of the colorful fabric covers - why, the photographer learned only when his own house was covered with green fabric panels. When he looked out the window he saw only green color, day in, day out, for nine months. It was terrible.