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

| Nov 8, 2011

$11 million business incubator Florida Innovation Hub at the University of Florida completed by Charles Perry Partners, Inc.

The facility houses the UF Office of Technology Licensing, UF Tech Connect, other entities, and more than 30 startup technology tenants.

| Nov 8, 2011

Designer joins Holabird & Root

Clifton has been awarded numerous awards throughout her career, including two AIA Chicago Design Excellence Awards.

| Nov 4, 2011

Mortenson Construction builds its fifth wind facility In Illinois

Shady Oaks Wind Farm is under construction near Compton, Ill.

| Nov 4, 2011

CSI and ICC Evaluation Service agree to reference GreenFormat in ICC-ES Environmental Reports?

ICC-ES currently references CSI's MasterFormat and other formats in all of its evaluation reports. The MOU will add GreenFormat references.

| Nov 4, 2011

McCarthy completes construction of South Region High School No. 2 in Los Angeles

Despite rain delays and scope changes, the $96.7 million high school was completed nearly two-months ahead of schedule.

| Nov 4, 2011

Two Thornton Tomasetti projects win NCSEA’s 2011 Excellence in Structural Engineering Awards

Altra Sede Regione Lombardia and Bank of Oklahoma Center both recognized.

| Nov 3, 2011

GREC Architects announces opening of the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort and Spa

The hotel was designed by GREC and an international team of consultants to enhance the offerings of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club without imposing upon the dramatic landscapes of the elite golf course.

| Nov 3, 2011

Hardin Construction tops out Orlando Embassy Suites

The project began in April 2011 and is expected to open in fall 2012.

| Nov 3, 2011

2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony to be held in China

The tradition of moving the event to world sites of architectural significance was established to emphasize that the prize is international, the laureates having been chosen from 16 different nations to date. 

| Nov 3, 2011

DMR Architects welcomes two new staff members

Siro Gonzalez joins the staff as junior graduate architect and Megan Byers joins the staff as marketing assistant.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category




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