mariyan atanasov captures ‘urban tetris architecture’ in bulgaria

bulgarian photographer mariyan atanasov reimagines the urban architecture of bulgaria by creating oversized tetris-like scenarios. in his surreal photo series titled ‘urban tetris’, atanasov transforms sofia’s high-rise apartment blocks into abstract forms reminiscent of the classic video game.

images courtesy of mariyan atanasov

atanasov, who is also a graphic designer, abstracted the eastern european buildings by first dissecting the volumes. he then rearranges elements to create the visual allusion. the architecture appears to float as if ready to slot into place and stack in the same way as the 80’s video game created by soviet russian software engineer alexey pajitnov.

atanasov isolates each abstract form against a flat background, editing out distractions like phone wires and trees. the project is the latest from the designer whose portfolio includes many other minimalist and urban environments.

in another series, titled ‘urban fragments‘, he explores the subject of contrast across a number of variables like size, space, color, tone, direction, shape and texture. he also has series’ documenting berlin, istanbul and georgia. mariyan atanasov is based in paris, texas and shares his photography and design projects on behance and instagram.

project info

photographer: mariyan atanasov
name: urban teris
location: sofia, bulgaria
date: 2019
portfolio: behance
social media: instagram