Aubrey Birdwell

Disposable City is a prototype for a public artwork fabricated from armor-grade steel (the type commonly used in tanks, such as Rolled Homogeneous Armor steel). Its surface is coated with dye-sublimation printed powdercoat, carrying images of local signage that signals impending demolition of historical landmarks—in this mock-up, the Proposed Land Use signs ubiquitous across Seattle.

The coffin-like form contains a stark, grid-like cityscape—cheaply designed, modular, and efficient—flattened into a surface meant for participants to recline upon. Windows of bulletproof glass allow visibility both inside and out, framing a tense reciprocity between enclosure and exposure. The unit may be opened from the exterior but locked from within, offering participants the choice to remain inside during moments of environmental catastrophe, political unrest, or war.

As a public monument, Disposable City operates at the intersection of shelter and tomb, collapse and refuge—an uneasy architecture of survival drawn from the detritus of urban erasure.

Disposable Triptych is a series of mock-ups for a companion set of public works that offset the stark utility of the Disposable City monument. Each piece playfully reinterprets the coffin form through three variations, employing glass, printed surfaces, and hand-painted graffiti. With the text turned inward, viewers are invited to peer through windows, transforming acts of investigation and reflection into part of the work itself.