Abandoned vehicles are slowly swallowed up by nature on a stretch of road near the power plant

Polish photographer Arkadiusz Podniesinski traveled to the site of the Fukushima nuclear disaster last month to see the location with his own eyes. When he obtained permits to enter the roughly 20km (12.5 mile) Exclusion Zone, he was confronted with a scene similar to one from a post-apocalyptic film. Podniesinski previously photographed the area around the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear disaster.
“It is not earthquakes or tsunamis that are to blame for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, but humans,” writes Podniesinski on his website. He undertook the project so that he could draw his “own conclusions without being influenced by any media sensation, government propaganda, or nuclear lobbyists who are trying to play down the effects of the disaster, and pass on the information obtained to as wide a public as possible.”

Some of the cars have entirely disappeared into the wild grass

Podniesinski shows a radiation reading of 6.7 uSv/h

A chained-up motorcycle is slowly absorbed into the field


 These contaminated televisions were collected and piled up as part of the cleaning efforts

 Cobwebs hang above the scattered products in this abandoned supermarket

 Another photo from within a supermarket feels eerily similar to those from post-apocalyptic movies

 This abandoned computer lab covered in animal droppings is from a village near the plant

 A dining table with portable cookers ready to prepare food looks like it was left in haste

 These go-karts have had their last race in an entertainment park located within the 12.5mile exclusion zone

 Musical instruments including a piano litter the floor of this classroom

 The earthquake which started the tsunami-damaged buildings as well

 These bicycles were left behind when residents fled

 Classes were interrupted mid-lesson by the disaster

 An empty arcade, now without patrons

 This aerial photo taken by a drone shows one of the dump sites that contain thousands of bags of contaminated soil

 Bags of radioactive soil are stacked one on top of the other to save space

 Landowners have been told that these contaminated bags will be disposed of, but many people remain skeptical

 Cows started to get white spots on their skin soon after the accident. One farmer believes this is due to the cows eating contaminated grass

“Nuclear energy is the energy of a bright future” reads the sign

More info: podniesinski.pl (h/t: designyoutrust)


It’s daunting to witness the labor poured into a 365-day creative project, be it taking a daily photo, doing a quick sketch, or even writing a few lines. Edinburgh-based artist Charles Young (previously) gets particularly high marks for completing his daily paper model project that he started a year ago today as a way to explore design, architecture, and model building.








Every single one of his 365 models were designed, cut, and assembled daily using 220gsm watercolour paper and PVA glue, with many of the structures incorporating moving components that Young photographed to create quick animations. The pieces are frequently infused with bits of whimsy and ingenuity, probably the result of any undertaking requiring so many different random ideas. Although he’s now stopped working, Young hopes to eventually display the cityscape somewhere in its entirety. 






You can find more of his paper architecture on Etsy. 


Worshippers at the Al Aziz Mosque in Abu Dhabi might very well be in awe of Allah not only spiritually, but also visually. As the sun sets, the structure’s façade comes aglow with the 99 names of God as described in the Koran, a magical display courtesy of light transmitting concrete by German company LUCEM.




Designed by APG Architecture & Planning Group and donated by local private investment firm Hasan Abdullah Mohammed Group, the three-story, 54,900-square-foot mosque presents the names on its different elevations with Arabic letters rendered in a beautiful calligraphic style on concrete-cladding units. Each uniquely cast, 2,800-pound block, custom produced by LUCEM, was installed using undercut attachment anchors and a channel-based substructure system affixed to the mosque’s concrete structure.




The letters protrude approximately 30 millimeters from the surface of the five-by-six-and-a-half-foot units. The resulting relief ensures visibility throughout the day, also creating light-and-shadow and even color play depending on the sun’s angles. At night, optical fibers in the concrete transmit backlighting to the exterior skin.




Although these blocks were bespoke, LUCEM offers a standard fiber-embedded concrete panel product that is manufactured and installed similarly to natural stone cladding. The panel is calibrated, polished on either one or both sides, and measures 49 by 25.5 inches. Suitable for exterior and interior wall cladding, raised floors, furniture, and other interior applications, it can be cut, drilled, and customized with different fiber-optic designs ranging from geometric patterns to logos.
 
 







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