This Weird Art Installation Mimics a Collapsing Floor

French designers used 3,000 hand-cut wooden cubes to create disorienting effect.

May 22, 2017 5:00 am

A unique architectural art installation in southern France makes observers think the floor is collapsing.

Made for a festival organized by France’s Center of National Monuments, the installation, titled Débarrassons le Planchera, required over 3,000 manually-cut wooden cubes that were glued to the floor of the installation space. Once placed, the cubes created an optical illusion in which the floor looks to be swallowing itself.

Débarrassons le Planchera was created by Byme Architecture’s Fanny Bouchet and Emmanuelle Messier, and was based on medieval trapdoor mechanisms built to defend fortresses. The design was made more relevant by its location in Aigues-Mortes, a medieval walled commune said to have been first built by Gaius Marius around 102 BC.

Visit Byrne’s website for more of the Bouchet and Messier’s innovative interior designs.

Byme Architecture Installation
(Byme Architecture)

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