Jun 13, 2014 6:30 AM

Gallery: A Country's Out-of-Control Sprawl, Drawn by a Robot in Sand

Photo: Francesco Allegretto
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At the Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, a group of designers, architects, and artists created an installation of sand printers.
Photo: Francesco Allegretto
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The printers were built specifically to trace patterns, representing Israel's out-of-control urban sprawl, in the sand.

Photo: Francesco Allegretto
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Israel's population has grown tenfold in just 66 years, leading to what this group has coined the Urburb: neighborhoods that aren’t quite urban (they’re outside metropolitan areas) but not quite suburban (they lack the pockets of commercial businesses that define most suburbs).
Photo: Francesco Allegretto
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The sprawl has created a commuter culture that’s bad for the environment: residents have to drive into the nearest city for practically everything—groceries, schools, entertainment, and so on—since commercial properties weren’t built into the neighborhoods.

Photo: Francesco Allegretto
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The group hopes that their exhibit (and their research and work, which will be published in a book, The Urburb) will promote the idea that Israel's architects and urban planners could create more responsive neighborhoods in the future.

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