Republic of Symmetry, an Instagram account managed by Damjan Bulatovic, features perfectly aligned building elements, including staircases, facades, and interiors in which walls, balconies, and windows are all mirrored vertically. Bulatovic, who is trained in architecture and interior design, started the account five years ago as a passion project.
“As someone who has always been a perfectionist at heart, I was immediately drawn to symmetrical pictures when I first created my Instagram account. I found great joy in exploring and admiring them, and at the time, there were no daily active pages dedicated to this topic,” Bulatovic told AN. “I decided to curate an account myself to share my passion for symmetry with other like-minded individuals. Looking back, I can say that this project was truly a labor of love, and it was not motivated by metrics such as likes, followers, or views.”
The account presents photographs from both historic and contemporary buildings as well as infrastructure, including bridges and tunnels. The images are sourced from photographers across the globe who scour the planet looking for serene images with the “sense of calm and balance” that bilaterally symmetric architecture and the built environment creates in its viewers.
“This innate attraction to structure and predictability can be seen as a deep-seated appreciation of beauty, a desire to experience something that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also imbued with a sense of purpose and direction,” Bulatovic continued.
“Architecture is meant to enable people to live and work with ease, and symmetry is one way of achieving that. Recognizable patterns and designs can help people develop a level of comfort that allows them to keep evolving and thriving,” he added.
In addition to the carefully curated account, Bulatovic has also created the Ultimate Symmetry Guide, a 310-page document that compiles over 300 locations in 104 cities worldwide where architecture aficionados, photography buffs, and symmetry lovers can admire symmetrical architecture.
Bulatovic is not the only person to go viral sharing images of symmetric spaces. Accidentally Wes Anderson, a site that started in 2017, has grown to “inspire a global community of more than one million Adventurers.” Its users “seek and share the most beautiful, idiosyncratic, and interesting places on earth while uncovering unique and unexpected stories behind the facades.” Often, these pastel-hued images are mirrored vertically.
See below for some snaps—looking up, down, and across large interior voids—from the Republic of Symmetry.
