Bone cancer can cause the human body to mutate in strange and dramatic ways. These images are an artistic interpretation of how a skeleton can change over time when affected by the disease — and they form the basis of the design of a new building.
Created by Irene Cheng from University of Lincoln, UK, the project is an attempt to learn about how the structure of the human body can accommodate rapid changes in its structure — and what architects and engineers can learn from it. Ultimately, Cheng hopes to use the images as a source of inspiration, for buildings that are built on imperfection.
The images aren’t entirely based on artistic licence. Rather, they’re thoroughly researched, based on analysis of historical photographs of bone cancer victims of the past. By 2015, Cheng and her colleagues hope to turn what they have learned from the human form to create the design of a new building. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. [New Scientist]