PIN LANE

POST APOCALYPSE

SAM LE BRETON 1014401

iDAT 306 - PRODUCTION OF SPACE

UNIVERSITY OF PLYMOUTHBsc DIGITAL ART & TECHNOLOGY

Introducon

Pin Lane is loPin Lane is located at the Barbican in Plymouth. It is a fairly short lane which cuts through from Southside St. at the co-op to New Street at the top of the steps. It is a quaint old street in one of the oldest areas of Plymouth. Being heavily bombed during the second world war it has come away relavely unscathed. There are a few new buildings and when looking at historical images we can see that the genegeneral shape of the street has been slightly adjusted at the North (Co-op) end.

The first visit I took to Pin Lane was, for me, a pleasant surprise. The Barbican is one of the few places in Plymouth with a disnct character, and, though the street does have some new, concrete structures it is also made up of rusque buildings with cobbled stones that add to the character and instantly transport your mind to the past.

This pThis project is about the development and decay that me brings upon the structures and objects that make up Pin Lane. Looking at how the identy changes without human interference and maintenance. This This report will outline the processes which I have been through in collecng informaon, and work I have done towards my final piece – an interacve model of Pin Lane which can be explored in both the present and a post apocalypc future.

Research

1. Life Aer People

One of the One of the very first thoughts I had when undertaking this project was of a documentary I had recently watched called ‘Life Aer people’. This portrayed some stunning visuals, looking into the distant future. How buildings will decay, and what species will dominate in our absence.

2. The World Without Us – Alan Weisman

This is the book which the documeThis is the book which the documentary was based upon. Looking at areas of the world that are currently unoccupied and speaking to experts in fields such as nuclear physics and archaeology, predicons are made about the earth’s future.

3. J G Ballard - hp://www.ballardian.com/

James GJames Graham Ballard was a Brish novelist and writer. He focused on dystopian modernity, with bleak, depressing landscapes and the psychological effects of technological, social and environmental developments.

4. London aer the Rain - p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eQHVF9Xuc8

Looking Looking at architecture of the near future, this piece has a clear dystopian spin on London, with some hints of surrealism. It employs some clever and interesng framing techniques to transfer between scenes, though it did not directly influence my final project, it was something which stuck with me in the back of my mind.

5. Chernobyl, Hashima Island and Kowloon Walled City

These aThese are three key areas of the Earth which have experienced very rapid depopulaon, for vastly different reasons. Though they leave behind impressionably and unseling sites for anyone who cares to venture to them (Kowloon excepted as it has since been demolished). Chernobyl is a city home to wolves and deer now, slowly being reclaimed by nature and turning back in to the forest lilike state which would have existed there prior to humans building their city. Hashima Island off Nagasaki (Japan) used to be a mining selement, when the mines closed down; the Island was le to rot, it is now illegal to set foot on the Island without permits. Kowloon City perhaps has the most interesng history, a surge of refugees aer World War II created a very dense city, at its peak containing 33,000 inhabiinhabitants in a 0.03km2 area, under control of the Chinese criminal organisaon, The Triads. It was eventually demolished in 1993.

The first piece I created for this project was a Photoshop mock-up of what a dystopian future could look like in Pin Lane. This was what I thought the Lane could look like in one hundred years. I had not begun my research in to what could happen, but thought of how were are being told that seas are rising, and linking that to Pin Lanes proximity to the sea I thought it would be interesng to view it as if the lane had been flooded.been flooded.

To develop my ideas I thought it would be beneficial to look at the different materials that amalgamate together to construct Pin Lane as we see it. In this image, I have overlaid contrasng colours to highlight the materials found. It gives a good representaon of the relavely small amount of different materials which are found in the area. From this image I could look at which areas are likely to decay first, and at what rates.and at what rates.

In this, image, I was looking at how the Lane could change in the near future removing certain aspects. For this simple image I thought about what outcome any waste removal being removed for a week could have. Rubbish would begin to pile up on street corners, and lier on the street would increase with no street cleaners to dy up aer us.

Starng to think about how my final project would take shape, I brought my photographic study in to Unity3D, a game engine which I have worked with previously. I arranged my photos in a 3D corridor, with the same dimensions as Pin Lane, this allowed me to explore my study 3 Dimensionally, and was a starng point which I used as a reference throughout the creaon of my final project piece.

The next step I took was to create a 3D Model representave of what Pin Lane looks like today. This was for numerous reasons, it would provide the basis for my decay, and would also be used as part of my final project, giving the viewer something to compare my decayed model with. All of the textures which I used were created by me using photos I took at Pin Lane and edited for ling in Photoshop. I created the vast majority of the models (models (over 50 in total) in 3D Studio Max, which were then imported and arranged in Unity3D. A few of the vegetaon models, and the lamppost were taken from Turbosquid and textured by me.

Aer creang my present day model I set about the decay. I seled on a date just 20 years in to the future without us. This gives enough me for a dramac change to have taken place, but leaves Pin Lane sll recognisable. Vegetaon has taken a strong foothold, and buildings are beginning to be reclaimed, Windows have been destroyed, ro ng wood frames and pressure from vegetaon growing inside looking for light has made quick made quick work of them. Roofs will have fallen in, exposing the internal structure to the elements and it will be less than 50 years before they begin collapsing, starng with the weaker, concrete structures. The grassy area towards the top of the lane has become wild, with a sole tree taking a foothold, soon to be followed by the saplings it seeds. The outside metalwork has been eaten away by rust, and the wweakest joints have collapsed, without human intervenon to repaint and preserve them it won’t be much longer before they are reduced to dust. Birds are prominent, and rats are thriving in the structures, both nesng inside the buildings. Domescated Dogs will be exnct by now, a few feral cats and their descendants will have tapped in to their hunng nature to survive. Larger mammals such as deer will have begun to rroam south away from the moors.

ConclusionThough I hThough I have not been quite certain of what form my final project would take unl quite late on in the year, I am very happy with it. I have stuck with the same concept all year, and though it has been tough at mes, and it has not been clear to me how to proceed I have created something which I think portrays my concept very well. My My research has proved vital for this piece, the work of Alan Weisman has been integral as a crical reference. The majority of me based decay ideas have been lied from the pages of ‘The World Without Us’, or from Life Aer People. I looked in to other methods which I could use, such as using a Schmidt hammer to measure relave elascity of the materials, though I realised that this would not be of much use to my project. I came to realise that thethere is no exact science in predicng the future decay. The best way is to look at areas such as Chernobyl, and make comparisons and base predicons upon this.I feel that Unity3D was the best tool I had in my arsenal to deliver a soluon for this project, and I am confident that I have used it well. Combined with my reasonably basic knowledge and ability of 3D Studio Max and Photoshop I have created an interacve experience displaying the decay of Pin Lane. Inially I considered creang this as a piece for the Immersive Vision Theatre. Due to the nature of the submission I have not included a dome corcorrected version, the camera system required to display Unity3D games in the theatre was something which I did however tackle last year, and would involve nothing more than a simple exchange of cameras and re building the scene using the frustum I created last year.