Gallery: A Country's Out-of-Control Sprawl, Drawn by a Robot in Sand
Photo: Francesco Allegretto01-MG-7625
At the Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, a group of designers, architects, and artists created an installation of sand printers.
Photo: Francesco Allegretto02Pattern09-MG-7462
The printers were built specifically to trace patterns, representing Israel's out-of-control urban sprawl, in the sand.
Photo: Francesco Allegretto03-MG-7520
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 Allegretto04Spread3
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 Allegretto05Spread4
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.
