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
| Sep 17, 2014
New hub on campus: Where learning is headed and what it means for the college campus
It seems that the most recent buildings to pop up on college campuses are trying to do more than just support academics. They are acting as hubs for all sorts of on-campus activities, writes Gensler's David Broz.
Sponsored | | Sep 17, 2014
The balance between innovation and standardization – How DPR Construction achieves both
How does DPR strike a balance between standardization and innovation? In today’s Digital COM video Blog, Sasha Reed interviews Nathan Wood, Innovator with DPR Construction, to learn more about their successful approach to fueling innovation. SPONSORED CONTENT
| Sep 16, 2014
Ranked: Top hotel sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Tutor Perini, Gensler, and AECOM top BD+C's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from hospitality sector projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 16, 2014
Studies reveal growing demand for LEED-credentialed professionals across building sector
The study showed that demand for the LEED Accredited Professional and LEED Green Associate credentials grew 46 percent over a 12-month period.
| Sep 16, 2014
Shigeru Ban’s design wins Tainan Museum of Fine Arts competition
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban has won an international competition organized by The Tainan Museum of Art in Taiwan. Ban's design features cascading volumes with an auditorium, classrooms, and exhibition galleries.
| Sep 16, 2014
Competition asks architects, designers to reimagine the future of national parks
National Parks Now asks entrants to propose all types of interventions for parks, including interactive installations, site-specific education and leisure opportunities, outreach and engagement campaigns, and self-led tours.
| Sep 15, 2014
Sustainability rating systems: Are they doomed?
None of the hundreds of existing green building rating systems is perfect. Some of them are too documentation-heavy. Some increase short-term project cost. Some aren’t rigorous enough or include contentious issues, writes HDR's Michaella Wittmann.
| Sep 15, 2014
Ranked: Top international AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Parsons Brinckerhoff, Gensler, and Jacobs top BD+C's rankings of U.S.-based design and construction firms with the most revenue from international projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Sep 15, 2014
Argentina reveals plans for Latin America’s tallest structure
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announces the winning design by MRA+A Álvarez | Bernabó | Sabatini for the capital's new miexed use tower.
| Sep 15, 2014
Perkins+Will unveils design for Ghana's largest hospital
The new hospital will be home to numerous hospital services including public health, accident and emergency, imaging, obstetrics, gynecology, dental, surgical, intensive care and administration.