flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Decaying city: Exhibit demonstrates the fragility of the man-made world

Decaying city: Exhibit demonstrates the fragility of the man-made world

Theater set designer Johanna Mårtensson built a model cityscape out of bread only to watch it decay.


By BD+C Staff | April 26, 2013
Photos by Johanna Mrtensson http://johannamartensson.se/

The Architizer blog (via Fast Company) brings us a fascinating exhibit by theater set designer Johanna Mårtensson. To demonstrate the fragility of the man-made world, she constructed a city out of bread and then snapped a photo every day for six months to document the decay (warning: if you haven't eaten breakfast yet you may want to skip the last two photos).

For her efforts, Mårtensson recently won a Platinum A' Design Award. In her submission, she described her inspiration for the project:

"I was inspired by an article about how well the earth would do without us. Within 500 years all buildings would be half-fallen or fallen, perfect homes for animals and plants. The forrest would soon grow in cities. Buildings as well as pollutions would be taken care of by bacterias and micro-organisms. If a UFO came here in a couple of hundred thousand years, they would not see many signs of that gang of primates that once thought they were the lords of the planet."

Check out Mårtensson's decaying city:

Related Stories

Urban Planning | Apr 5, 2022

The art of master planning, with Mike Aziz of Cooper Robertson

Mike Aziz, AIA, LEED AP, Partner and Director of Urban Design with Cooper Robertson, discusses his firm's design for the redevelopment of a Connecticut town's riverfront.

Multifamily Housing | Apr 5, 2022

New Covenant House New York contains multiple services for youth in crisis

The new Covenant House New York, a crisis shelter for homeless youth in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, provides a temporary home and multiple services for young people.

Sponsored | BD+C University Course | Apr 1, 2022

Video surveillance systems for multifamily housing projects

This introductory course provides detailed technical information and advice from security expert Michael Silva, CPP, on designing a video surveillance system for multifamily housing communities – apartments, condominiums, townhouses, or senior living communities. Technical advice on choosing the right type of cameras and optimizing the exterior lighting for their use is offered.

K-12 Schools | Apr 1, 2022

Charleston County’s award-winning career and technical education high school

BD+C Executive Editor Rob Cassidy talks with the team behind the award-winning Cooper River Center for Advanced Studies, a Career|Technical Education high school in Charleston County, S.C.

Modular Building | Mar 31, 2022

Rick Murdock’s dream multifamily housing factory

Modular housing leader Rick Murdock had a vision: Why not use robotic systems to automate the production of affordable modular housing? Now that vision is a reality.

Multifamily Housing | Mar 29, 2022

Here’s why the U.S. needs more ‘TOD’ housing

Transit-oriented developments help address the housing affordability issue that many cities and suburbs are facing.

Contractors | Mar 28, 2022

Amid supply chain woes, building teams employ extreme procurement measures

Project teams are looking to eliminate much of the guesswork around product availability and price inflation by employing early bulk-purchasing measures for entire building projects.

Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 28, 2022

Is your firm a reconstruction sector giant?

Is your firm active in the U.S. building reconstruction, renovation, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse markets? We invite you to participate in BD+C's inaugural Reconstruction Market Research Report.

Legislation | Mar 28, 2022

LEED Platinum office tower faces millions in fines due to New York’s Local Law 97

One Bryant Park, also known as the Bank of America Tower, in Manhattan faces an estimated $2.4 million in annual fines when New York City’s York’s Local Law 97 goes into effect.

Healthcare Facilities | Mar 25, 2022

Health group converts bank building to drive-thru clinic

Edward-Elmhurst Health and JTS Architects had to get creative when turning an American Chartered Bank into a drive-thru clinic for outpatient testing and vaccinations.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Construction Costs

Data center construction costs for 2024

Gordian’s data features more than 100 building models, including computer data centers. These localized models allow architects, engineers, and other preconstruction professionals to quickly and accurately create conceptual estimates for future builds. This table shows a five-year view of costs per square foot for one-story computer data centers. 


Sustainability

Grimshaw launches free online tool to help accelerate decarbonization of buildings

Minoro, an online platform to help accelerate the decarbonization of buildings, was recently launched by architecture firm Grimshaw, in collaboration with more than 20 supporting organizations including World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), RIBA, Architecture 2030, the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) and several national Green Building Councils from across the globe.



Healthcare Facilities

Watch on-demand: Key Trends in the Healthcare Facilities Market for 2024-2025

Join the Building Design+Construction editorial team for this on-demand webinar on key trends, innovations, and opportunities in the $65 billion U.S. healthcare buildings market. A panel of healthcare design and construction experts present their latest projects, trends, innovations, opportunities, and data/research on key healthcare facilities sub-sectors. A 2024-2025 U.S. healthcare facilities market outlook is also presented.

halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021