Pin Lane

Post Apocalypse

Sam Le Breton Digital Art + Technology

IDAT306

INTRODUCTION

Pin 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 relatively unscathed. There are a few new buildings and when looking at historical images we can see that the general 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 distinct character, and, though the street does have some new, concrete structures it is also made up of rustique buildings with cobbled stones that add to the character and instantly transport your mind to the past.

This project is about the development and decay that time brings upon the structures and objects that make up Pin Lane. Looking at how the identity changes without human interference and maintenance. I will look at how the vegetation reclaims the land, and the different species which could dominate the area in mans absence.

PROCESSES

Obviously we cannot know for sure what the future will bring, so bringing together different data such as humidity, weather, as well as using a Schmidt hammer to test the hardness of the rock, combined with research already taken place on the decay of manmade structures and looking at examples of areas where man has abandoned in a moment such as Chernobyl and Hashima Island I will attempt to predict how Pin Lane could decay and collapse over the years, I will research into the natural land formation around the area, looking at any land reclamations and waterway diversions.

The idea of looking into the post apocalyptic future is not a new one. Alan Weisman wrote a book titled, “The World Without Us” which looked at this idea on a global scale, it is the key text for my project which I am taking my inspiration from. The book was also created into a TV series and documentary called, “Life After People”. This looked at areas such as Chernobyl and Hashima Island aswell as creating 3D visualizations of famous structures and animating how they would decay in the future – showing how long it would take for them to fall, and which would stand the test of time the longest.

I will look at the animal species that populate the area, and which could rise up as the dominant species without us controlling them. If it were to be an influx of foxes initially, and how long domestic cats and dogs would survive. Again we can look at areas where this has happened in the past such as Chernobyl, where deer and wild boar now roam the abandoned citys streets. We must also look at species not native to the area but which have been introduced, an example of this happening is the European Starlings introduction to North America. Brought over by an avid Shakespeare fan who thought it would be good to have all the birds mentioned in his book populating Manhattan, the starling has taken over, forcing out the native birds, today their numbers are up to 200 million.

Taking out different things at different times is another way which I could create results. In this example I have created a piece showing how the Lane could have changed if the Rubbish was not collected after a week, so we can see the piling up of litter, though of course it is quite subtle after just one week.

This is a concept of how it could look hundreds of years into the future, it was the first piece I created for this project, without having done any proper research, I thought about how close the area is to the sea, how without mans interventions the sea level could rise up and flood the area.

“Rising water, tides, and salt corrosion have replaced the engineered shoreline, circling New York’s five boroughs with estuaries and small beaches. With no dredging, Central Park’s ponds and reservoir have been reincarnated as marshes. Without natural grazers – unless horses used by hansom cabs and by park policemen managed to go feral and breed – Central Park’s grass is gone. A maturing forest is in its place, radiating down former streets and invading empty foundations. Coyotes, wolves, red foxes, and bobcats have brought squirrels back into balance with oak trees tough enough to outlast the lead we deposited, and after 500 years, even in a warming climate the oaks, beeches, and moisture-loving species such as ash dominate.” – A. Weismann

CONCLUSION

I anticipate exploring and unpacking the site visually. I wil look into the geological makeup of the street, finding out what the structures are made of, and how they will decay. I need to research the vegetation in the area, and how quickly it can spread and take its roots in the cobbled stones. Weather data is also important to look at when considering the wear and erosion of rock in the Lane. Without us to inhibit them, some species will thrive, others will collapse I will look at the different species both native and introduced to this area to see which will be the ones to thrive, and which will be those that fall.

I will create likely scenarios for different time frames. At the moment I envision my final piece to be an interactive video where you can scroll through time, viewing the different scenarios and seeing Pin Lane deteriorate before your eyes.

REFERENCES

Weisman, A “The World Without Us” (2007)

A very important text for my work, as mentioned it outlines the decay of the planet over thousands of years when we are gone and no longer able to upkeep it.

De Vries, D “Life After People” (2008)

Created for the History Channel, this television special documentary visualizes how the planet will decay over time, heavily influenced by “The World Without Us”

Flannery, T “We Are the Weather Makers” (2007)

This is a book I discovered last year when researching climate change, looking at natural changes the planet goes through in its lifecycles and also looking at implications we, as a species have had on the planet.