Model City Zen

Model of San Francisco produced entirely from Jelly!

(discovered via Evil Sunday)

More of my photos from July’s visit to the Project Morrinho exhibition on London’s South Bank.

(click here for part 1)

As the Model City Zen blog approaches its first birthday I thought it’s about time I added a few original photos to the site. So without further ado I bring you Project Morrinho…

Project Morrinho is a social and cultural project, originating in Rio de Janeiro. Its primary function is to help change attitudes towards Brazilian favelas (shanty towns). Noble ambitions indeed, but what captured my attention was the way they achieve this – by building miniature scale models of these favelas.

Project Morrinho has become so successful that they now tour internationally, constructing small scale models of the original Morrinho model, in situ. I took these photos when I saw Project Morrinho at London’s South Bank, 18th July, 2010.

We visited the exhibition during the first couple of days of construction; the photos below show the building process, and the model taking shape.

Click here to learn more about Project Morrinho.

Fantastic city-scape of Shanghai, constructed entirely of poker chips and dice!

This model, called “Unreal Scene”, was constructed by Chinese artist Liu Jianhua. Originally part of the “Dream in Conflict” exhibition at the Galleria Continua, San Gimignano, Italy.

I particularly like how the additional tables are used to create the (very effective) illusion of islands, just off the shore.

(discovered via designboom)

I bet you didn’t know I’m a quarter Latvian? Let’s celebrate with this model of Latvian capital Riga.

(discovered via SkyscraperCity)