54. Skeletons of lives gone by

Our correspondent Tim Wong has documented some images of apartment blocks in Manila, where like many other cities, features many examples of AC facade. He made a very interesting social observation as he snapped these pictures, noting that there are some apartment units that have upgraded AC condensers, while some have older ones and some do not even have AC at all. He postulates:

 " it is quite a common site here in Metro Manila since people are very unlikely to move out of places because land value growth is not as fast as there in Singapore. These tenants would then slowly upgrade their space and personalize it, a bit too much sometimes. Unaware of how they slowly create a disorder in the facade."

I also noticed that there were some empty condensor brackets on the facade as well, leaving behind traces of past occupancy. Thus the phenomenon of AC facade on these blocks are almost like an archaeological expression of human urban occupation. New AC condensers are a show of upward mobility, while empty brackets are skeletons of lives past.

Below: AC facade in metro Manila showing disused AC brackets leaving behind a reminder of past occupants