DIG/DUG CITY
Fly Ranch, Nevada, 2021
Idea - Design
Dig/Dug City is an ongoing project that was first designed as a proposal submitted and shortlisted in 2021 for Land Arts Generator Initiative’s Fly Ranch competition—an open call asking participants to propose grand visions for an “off-the-grid,” regenerative metropolis to be located on property acquired by Burning Man Project in 2016. Our Proposal, Dig/Dug City, outlined the masterplan for a vast eco-city consisting of numerous mirrored, earth cast shells, each composed of laminated and/or deposited pulp paper material applications—pushing various technologies researched in past i/thee projects/collaborations and developing them into a singular vision for a regenerative, zero-carbon community.
The city, proposed in the vein of new-age, self-reliant utopias including Arcosanti in Arizona and Black Rock City in Nevada, is conceived as a closed-loop—or circular—system maintained by the “self generation of inputs” in which all infrastructure is made from recycled materials, and all waste can be recycled or composted. Phase one of development is planned to center around the construction of large, open-air community centers that will function as gathering spaces, lecture halls, and cafeterias. Smaller living units and roads will then form naturally around these hubs.
