50 large buildings on the floor of three rooms in an apartment

[Image: Photo by Magnus Johansson, via Work in Progress].

These are photographs of a miniature, partially destroyed Manhattan-like metropolis built inside some guy’s apartment in Sweden.

[Image: Photo by Magnus Johansson, via Work in Progress].

Magnus Johansson – who, I believe, took all these photographs – explains over at Work in Progress that the molds for the buildings consist of foamcard and RTV, and that they were then cast with “cheapish construction plaster” – although the artists also produced “some plastic versions using vacuum suction stuff.”
Finally, it’s all held together with “a combination of wood (white) glue, silicone glue from a glue gun and concrete filler,” and then colored and painted in incredible detail.
Johansson refers to the project as “50 large buildings on the floor of three rooms in an apartment.”

[Image: Photos by Magnus Johansson, via Work in Progress].

So what is it?
As Johansson goes on to explain, the whole thing was “funded by Swedish company Popcore,” to a creative design by Mats Sahlström, and it was “built by Warhammer 40K players and students of Nordiska Scenografiskolan (Nordic Set Design school) in Skellefteå, Sweden.”
They built it for a music video by Strata.
In some ways, though, I’m most blown away by the apocalyptic wallpaper.

[Image: Photos by Magnus Johansson, via Work in Progress].

But surely these guys should all be given honorary B.Arch. degrees for their model-building skills alone?

(Found via doilum. Meanwhile, if you think I need to re-caption these images with more accurate information, please let me know and I will update the post right away. Visually related: BLDGBLOG’s interview with Lebbeus Woods).

12 thoughts on “50 large buildings on the floor of three rooms in an apartment”

  1. those models are amazing…i just stopped by to say hello, as your name popped up on one of my SF blogs (i’m in Berkeley).. anyway, i always pretty much knew you’d be doing something amazing someday. cheers! -cerise b. (from G.A.)

  2. In Columbus, Georgia, tucked away on the 1st floor of the River Market Antiques Mall, and hidden away behind closed doors, is Larry Hall’s massive model city. “Empire City” is populated by both real and imagined buildings, making for a huge city of his own design. This labor of love started in Detroit, and was relocated to Columbus, GA.

    Details about Larry and his ongoing project are hard to come by online. On my visit, I missed him by an hour. In addition to the city, his room displays his hand-carved diesel trains, army tanks and over-sized construction equipment.

    Empire City

  3. here’s a lot to sum up! but i made my way to SF, then Berkeley by way of *cough* ohio. i hope your reading went well and you enjoyed our fair (foggy and as of late, rather chilly) city!

  4. Wow! I met a guy in NYC who made a funny video by putting a tiny camera on a remote control car and running though a crude model city – it encountered “giant” animals on the way.

    I’d love to do that with this setup, and let my pet iguana loose in the place!!

  5. dude's that is AWESOME!!!!
    that is the most epic building's i've ever seen!

    greetings from holland

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