Level 1 of 5
The World
Seven continents in one ocean
The whole planet on a B5 plate. Seven pieces lift out of a single sheet of ocean.
7 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 157 km
Collection
Zürich
Ending in the twelve Kreise, either side of the Limmat.
8 plates, each a piece of the one above it, from the World down to this ground. Lift a piece out of one plate and it is the subject of the next.
- 8
- Plates
- 135
- Pieces to lift out
- 1,937×
- Times closer, top to bottom
- 2
- Ways down
From the whole World to ground you could walk across in an afternoon: the last plate is 1,937 times closer than the first, and every one of them is a real map at its own scale.
Follow the borders
World to continent to country to canton to city district
A descent cut by the lines people drew. A world is made of continents, a continent of countries, a country of regions, a region of towns — and each one is a plate whose piece becomes the next plate.
- ↓ Lift out Europe · 6× closer
Level 2 of 5
Europe
Forty-five countries at real elevation
The political map, printed on the terrain it was drawn over. Forty-five pieces, from Andorra to Russia's western edge.
29 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 24.7 km
↓ Lift out Switzerland · 16× closer
Level 3 of 5
Switzerland
Twenty-three cantons over the Alps
The cantons, printed at 1 mm to 1.5 km, with the Alps in white and every major lake in blue.
23 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 1.5 km
↓ Lift out Canton Zürich · 5× closer
Level 4 of 5
Canton Zürich
Twelve districts around the lake
The whole canton at 305 metres to the millimetre, with the lake, the Glatt valley and the Albis ridge.
12 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 305 m
↓ Lift out Zürich City · 4× closer
Level 5 of 5
Zürich City
The twelve Kreise
The city districts at 81 metres to the millimetre — the finest scale in the collection.
12 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 81 m
Follow the water
The Rhine down to the river that runs through Zürich
The same descent, cut the other way. A watershed is all the land whose rain ends up in the same river. Every cut follows a ridge, so each piece is one tributary's whole territory — and the piece you lift out of one plate is the subject of the next.
Starts at The Rhine: the plates above it aren't made yet.
Level 1 of 3
The Rhine
From the Alps to the North Sea
Twenty pieces — the Aare, the Main, the Neckar, the Mosel — crossing six countries without showing one of them.
22 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 3.4 km
↓ Lift out the Aare · 3× closer
Level 2 of 3
The Aare
Switzerland's own river, whole
Fifteen pieces — the Reuss, the Limmat, the Saane, the Zihl — covering most of the Swiss plateau.
15 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 1.1 km
↓ Lift out the Limmat · 2× closer
Level 3 of 3
The Limmat
Zürich's water, from the Glarus Alps down
Fifteen pieces following the Linth and the Limmat from the high Alps through the lake and out past Zürich.
15 pieces · 1 mm ≈ 517 m
The plates, printed
Photographs of plates from this collection, as they came off the printer.
