Sandcastles aren’t just for kids anymore — a quick Google search will yield hundreds of galleries of impressive beach creations created by dedicated adults who have invested hours into their craft. It’s still possible for the work of a sandcastle sculptor to stand out, though, as Adam Savage said this about artist Calvin Seibert’s works: “I love everything about these sandcastles. Brutalist, modernist architecture yet organic at the same time. Amazing.”

That’s high praise from one of today’s most curious and creative minds, and the praise is justified, as Seibert’s sandcastles have a geometrical crispness and architectural realism that suggests they belong in a modern art gallery or in a rich California neighborhood.

Seibert spends at least part of his summers creating these artistic sandcastles in Queens, New York, and has a 224-photo gallery of his works on Flickr that stretches all the way back to 2006. He told Laughing Squid that building these sandcastles is a real test, saying, “Nature will always be against you and time is always running out. Having to think fast and to bring it all together in the end is what I like about it.”

Unlike architecture, which is carefully planned beforehand for the sake of structural and aesthetic integrity, Seibert’s building process seems to be improvisational:

I rarely start with a plan, just a vague notion of trying to do something different each time. Once I begin building and forms take shape I can start to see where things are going and either follow that road or attempt to contradict it with something unexpected. In my mind they are always mash-ups of influences and ideas. I see a castle, a fishing village, a modernist sculpture, a stage set for the Oscars all at once.

Seibert has six years of castles waiting to be looked at, so check them out here.

Featured image: Creative Tools