Rafael Herrin-Ferri

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Rafael Herrin-Ferri shares a portion of his photographic survey “All the Queens Houses.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Spanish-born architect, artist, and Sunnyside resident Rafael Herrin-Ferri began photographing Queens' low-rise housing stock back in 2012 after being struck by the borough's unique combination of attached and detached houses and small apartment buildings. Inspired by the fact that Queens is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse places in the world, Herrin-Ferri wanted to capture the "layers of culture and the blending of neighborhoods" through these eclectic houses. Fast forward five years and 5,000 photographs and his work is now the focus of an Architectural League of New York exhibit "All the Queens Houses," which features 273 snapshots of individual houses in as many as 34 neighborhoods. Ahead, see Rafael Herrin-Ferri's favorite of the bunch and hear from him on how he got into the project and why he loves Queens.
All that ahead