A tiny city made of paper, one building at a time

Young’s micro-metropolis is filled with cranes and oil derricks, homey bungalows and mansard roofs. It features faithful reconstructions of architectural archetypes, like flying buttresses and A-frame cabins, and surreal buildings supported by chicken feet.

Despite its fanciful feel, Young’s pulpy municipality was inspired by a series of photos by Bernd and Hilla Becher called “Typologies” that rigorously document industrial sites from straightforward, objective angles.

Young isn’t copying their photos; instead, he’s trying to translate the structures that surround him into a miniature municipality. “The ideas come from things that I’ve seen or read about, the pieces that I make are never a copy of a real building but are sometimes tangentially inspired by something real,” he says.