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The Pyramids: Special Economic Vortex Zones of North America explores pyramidal structures throughout the continent. Here, the book's creator Ian James comments on ten of the weirdest and most interesting examples.

Photographer James has been travelling around the United States and Canada documenting modern pyramids for years, stringing together road trips to visit both iconic and little-known examples for his book.

His interest in New Age culture and the recurrence of the pyramid motif led him to visit the sites, which include cultural institutions, commercial outlets and religious buildings.

Beyond the "deeply resonant symbolism" of pyramids through time in both religion and governance, James believes they serve a specific function in the United States.

"I'm interested in capitalism's penchant for nostalgia, as well as its use of a preexisting form as a carrier for content detached from its original use value," he told Dezeen.

Ian James travelled across the United States and Canada, photographing pyramids for his book

"I've been interested in how this structural form from antiquity has been emptied out of its original meaning and refilled with these various facets of late capitalism," he continued, referring to the commercial nature of some of the buildings.

The road trip plays an important role, too, for James, who said he considers each of the sites "energetic vortex zones"  and "channels due to the energy concentrating nature of the architecture".

On the road trip, the pilgrimage and shopping trip intersect.

"I've been thinking of them as energetic sites of late capitalism, and to visit them is a performance of the state religion of capitalism," James concluded.

Read on for ten examples from the book. 

Meditation Pyramid, Taos, New Mexico, USA

"Completed in 1980, the Meditation Pyramid is one of [Michael] Reynolds' earliest physical manifestations of his Earthship architecture and building theories.

"Sitting on windswept private land just outside of Taos, New Mexico, the pyramid has a rustic, minimal interior with two levels. I spent a pre-dawn morning here photographing and filming with my 16 millimetre camera. The upper chamber features a circular window of colored glass bottles."

Pyramid House, Maricopa, Arizona, USA

"This is one of the earliest photographs I made in the series, which was taken during my first big road trip to visit and photograph several pyramids.

"I didn't know it at the time, but this house had been featured in an episode of HGTV's Extreme Homes. The home went up for sale not long after the episode aired. Scattered about the site are replicas of various ancient Egyptian artefacts, as well homemade wooden pyramids acting as landscape décor."

The Riordan Clinic, Wichita, Kansas, USA

"Part of a larger campus of 'pyradomes' that resembles a retro-futurist Mars habitat, the Riordan Clinic was an early practitioner of functional medicine and specialises in health treatments such as high-dose intravenous vitamin C injections, ultraviolet blood irradiation, and prolozone therapy, which involves injecting ozone into ligaments.

"I drove a rental pickup truck through a frozen field in order to access the site and spent my time there with a family of deer and several dogs who chased them in circles around the compound."

Memphis Pyramid, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

"In its prior incarnations, the Bass Pro pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee, was notorious for all kinds of lore, including severe plumbing issues causing the toilets to back up during the opening concert of the pyramid, which was the farewell performance by Naomi and Winona Judd.

"In addition, the founder of Bass Pro hinged the decision to lease or not lease the structure as the company's flagship store based on whether he caught a fish on his next cast from his boat, while deep in discussion about the matter floating just upstream from the pyramid on the Mississippi River."

OC Grace Church, Garden Grove, California, USA

"This church has had a variety of Christian congregations. The current tenants are a Seventh Day Adventist community, which believes that all followers of Christ will be taken to heaven during the Second Coming and everyone else's souls will be annihilated and no longer exist – a contrary belief to more standard Christian doctrine that the righteous go to heaven and the wicked go to hell.

"The structure is sited within an older, suburban neighborhood in Garden Grove."

The Imagination Pavilion, Orlando, Florida, USA

"Built in 1982 inside of Disney World's EPCOT Center, the pavilion has had several lives. Sponsored by Kodak until 2010, its thematic focus was on the history of photography and a celebration of the concept of 'imagination.'

"Kodak and Fuji had been in a bidding war for the sponsorship, though the changing tides of the photo industry had Kodak unceremoniously pull out during its brush with bankruptcy."

SWITCH Data Center, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

"Constructed in 1989 for $111 million, the seven-story pyramid was intended to be the Steelcase Corporation's office furniture design center. Supposedly praised by Egyptian engineer consultants, the complex was left sparsely populated after waves of employee buyouts and layoffs in 2009.

"Plans to turn it into an education campus fell apart during several years of negotiations, and the Las Vegas-based data center company SWITCH purchased it once their requested tax breaks were signed into law by then-governor Rick Snyder.

"The facility is now the largest data center east of the Mississippi River. A rogue security guard chased me around the perimeter of the site multiple times, trying to prevent me from photographing the structure due to the severity of the data held within."

Summum, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

"A sanctuary and a temple for the Summum religious organisation, the pyramid originally had to be licensed as a winery to comply with the building codes of local and federal authorities. The structure's foundation uses the Golden Ratio in its design and is aligned with 'true north,' allowing the sides of the pyramid to face the cardinal points.

"Positioned within the apex and corners of the pyramid are large Brazilian quartz crystals. Summum states that its teachings are those of Gnostic Christianity and that knowledge comes from revelatory experience, not intellect or faith. The group practices mummification rituals on animals and humans. They have several publications, including Sexual Ecstasy from Ancient Wisdom."

Clark County Government Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

"The pyramid houses the government center's cafeteria and is part of a larger complex that includes a tower and amphitheatre. The architects responded to the city's request for 'first class civic architecture' when designing the project and wanted the pyramid to evoke those of Indigenous Central American civilizations and North American mound architecture."

"Just to the north of the government center is a Frank Gehry-designed medical center."

Moody Gardens (Rainforest Pyramid), Galveston, Texas, USA

"Rainforest Pyramid is one of three pyramids at the site."

"This was the first of the three pyramids to be constructed. It is ten stories tall and houses simulations of various rainforests around the world. In addition to plant life, the pyramid houses animal species specific to its featured environments, such as ocelots, sloths, river otters, monkeys, birds, and reptiles."

The photography is by Ian James.