Kama Sutra for Buildings

Italian artist Federico Babina‘s new illustrations are proof that sometimes it’s not just your dirty mind catching subtle erotic undertones. Sometimes those actually are drawings of buildings doing the deed.

In continuing with his theme of architecture-inspired illustration series—past architecturally-inclined art includes movie directors imagined as homes, architects as letters from the alphabet, and abstract portraits of architects—Babina has created “Archisutra.” The new series is comprised of drawings that focus on the sexual forms of buildings by relating their positions to that of the ancient Hindu text we have all heard of : The Kama Sutra—a book about human sexuality by second century Hindu philosopher Vātsyāyana.

Babina’s illustrations visualize buildings as bodies, and has them demonstrating multiple positions that, when looked at out of context, look merely like oddly futuristic structures. Of course, the buildings look a lot less innocent once an explanation is provided. “These 12 images represent an (im)possible abacus of an architectural KamaSutra. One way to explore not only the functional component of architecture, but also its capacity of communication highlighting the traces of sexuality and sensuality hidden between shapes,” he says in an artist’s statement.

See the entire series on Babina’s official website.