Poetic architectural collages illustrate futuristic storyline dreamt up by Nemestudio

Nemestudio is a architectural office with something of fine art approach to buildings and installations, and one very engaged with architecture’s relationship to the environment. The Houston-based practice, which operates as a design think-tank, is run by architects Neyran Turan and Mete Sonmez and focuses on projects about art and the city, as well as contemporary issues surrounding urbanism.

In this beautiful speculative project titled Museum of Lost Volumes, Nemestudio envisages a sustainable world that depletes the planet’s scarce supply of rare earths – 17 chemical elements in finite supply, and heavily used in clean energy technologies. Nemestudio’s series of black-and-white architectural collages illustrate a museum built to house remaining rare earth mines around the world. The visuals recall imagery from natural history textbooks and city planning, and exemplify an inventive and poetic way of engaging with issues that can otherwise seem quite removed from creative thinking.