Strangely inspiring piece over at Wired magazine about scale-models of urban metropolises. I’m talking about huge dioramas that detail — in miniature — every block of Sydney, Manhattan and Shanghai, among other cities.
Lots of great photos, like the one of Shanghai, above, and an interesting (albeit educational-feeling) video from San Francisco, which until recently used its scale model of the Bay Area to, as Wired puts it:
… simulate the impact of public works projects and disasters—natural and man-made—on currents and tides. Considered one of the most practical applications of the craft, it’s made of 286 one-ton slabs of concrete, representations of all six bridges, and a computer-controlled hydraulic system to manipulate the waterworks.
Check the video:
(Can you believe that?? They considered damming the San Francisco Bay and creating, well, a lake?!?)
What really gets me, though, is the sheer joy that comes through in these models. I get the sense that these urban designers just got a huge kick out of making models. They’re actually tourist attractions, many of them.
Don’t miss the ones of Chicago, which look like Amy’s tilt-shift fakes.
Grant Hamilton
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