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

| Feb 5, 2013

8 eye-popping wood building projects

From 100-foot roof spans to novel reclaimed wood installations, the winners of the 2013 National Wood Design Awards push the envelope in wood design.

| Feb 3, 2013

Electronic surveying improves accuracy on BIM-driven hospital project

A mechanical contractor combines an electronic surveying tool with a BIM model to make significant productivity gains in a large-scale hospital project.

| Jan 30, 2013

Design Firm Little Expands Durham Interiors Studio

Both Benner and Byers have expertise in market sectors such as corporate, retail, hospitality, healthcare, research /technology, critical facilities, civic and education.

| Jan 22, 2013

Midwestern Construction Company Acquires Local Architecture Firm

St. Charles, Ill.-based design/build and construction firm acquires architecture firm.

| Jan 17, 2013

Thornton Tomasetti Founding Principal Thornton receives ASCE Lifetime Achievement Award

The OPAL Lifetime Achievement Award is given to civil engineers who “represent a model of achievement to which future generations of engineers aspire to match or exceed.”

| Jan 16, 2013

2013 40 Under 40 application process now open

Building Design+Construction's 40 Under 40 is open to AEC professionals from around the globe.

| Jan 16, 2013

SOM’s innovative Zhengzhou Greenland Plaza opens

The 2.59-million-square-feet building houses a mixed-use program of offices on its lower floors and a 416-room hotel.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




Great Solutions

41 Great Solutions for architects, engineers, and contractors

AI ChatBots, ambient computing, floating MRIs, low-carbon cement, sunshine on demand, next-generation top-down construction. These and 35 other innovations make up our 2024 Great Solutions Report, which highlights fresh ideas and innovations from leading architecture, engineering, and construction firms.

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