STUDIOKCA Creates Whale ‘Skyscraper’ From Plastic Waste

Brooklyn, N.Y.-based architecture firm STUDIOKCA took 10,000 pounds of plastic waste and transformed it into a work of art to raise awareness about the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans each year.

The firm’s ‘Skyscraper’ project, also known as the Bruges Whale, was constructed from 10,000 pounds of plastic waste pulled from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and has been temporarily installed for the 2018 Bruges Triennial in Belgium. The Triennial comprises artists and architects displaying installations across the center of Bruges through September 16.

According to ARCHITECT magazine, the 38-foot-high by 3-foot-wide (fin to fin) whale sculpture is as tall as a four-story building and “seems to be pushing out of one of the city’s main canals.” The design team told the magazine that the sculpture is a reminder of the 150 million tons of plastic that is still swimming in our waters.

STUDIOKCA founding principals Jason Klimoski and Lesley Chang and their team worked with Hawaii Wildlife Fund and Surfrider Foundation Kauai Chapter to collect as much plastic as they could in four months from the oceans and transformed it into this giant sculpture, according to ARCHITECT magazine.

STUDIOKCA is an architecture and design firm that explores ways in which context and locality offer opportunities to design and create objects and spaces that respond to the demands of its programs and site-specific environmental conditions.

“With each project, we are interested in how materials can be crafted or purposed to solve a problem, shape a narrative, create a sense of place and offer a unique solution that resonates with our clients and their sites,” STUDIOKCA noted on its website.

Check out the photo gallery for a more in-depth look at the firm’s “skyscraper of the sea.”