If architecture no longer asks ‘what if,’ how might it interrogate reality with wit instead? by Eirini Makouni

Hyper-Specificity as Satire

The Sea Port Crane Housing project is situated in West Oakland and addresses the urgent need for affordable housing. Its hyper-realistic representation reveals how underutilized industrial sites and the structures within them can be transformed into affordable live-work housing. Crane-like structures are repurposed, dominating the image and becoming effortlessly integrated into the immediate context. In parallel, they create a grid within which “apartment boxes” are inserted. Ultimately, the project suggests a strategy that preserves existing land resources, reduces carbon emissions and strengthens the areas’ economic fabric.

This feverishly detailed scenario manages to both critique the surreal contortions cities perform to ‘create’ land where plenty already exists, as well as celebrate the strange, adaptive architectures that emerge when we finally take these forgotten structures seriously.

Sea Port Crane Housing by Hafsa Burt, 2025 Vision Awards, Special Mention, Architecture Vision – Housing