Bryan Berg’s Playing Cards Structures

Bryan Berg’s can work magic with just a simple deck of cards. Using no glue, no tape, no folding and no tricks, he creates impressive structures out of playing cards and he is considered a professional card stacker. Bryan has introduced to the world of card-stacking by his grandfather, at the age of eight. Although his grandfather never taught him the techniques he uses today, he definitely got the interested and showed that building with cards can be extremely impressive.
From the earliest beginnings, Berg saw card-stacking as miniature architecture, involving structural design and material limitations knowledge. He ended up with a Professional Degree in architecture from Iowa State University in 1997, and in 2004 with a Master of Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Even though he has these degrees in his pocket, Bryan Berg believes that his card-stacking knowledge comes from the years of experimenting. He even went so far that he believes that card-staking helped him better understand the behavior of real building and materials.
Two major elements are crucial for all of this to be possible. The first one is mass. The weight of all those cards eventually add up (about seven decks make a pound), making the building heavier, and with weight comes stability. The second one is repetitive geometry. Bryan Berg’s structures are based on a grid-like arrangement that he tested in an engineering lab and is capable of supporting up to 660 lbs per square foot. Making a cross section through his constructions you could see the beehive-like structure, which can be exposed or covered with other layers of cards.
A true master, Bryan Berg holds quite an amount of Guinness World Records. In 1992, he broke the record for the Tallest House of Freestanding Playing Cards with a tower 4.67 meters tall. In 2004, Guinness created a new record category for the Largest House of Freestanding Playing Cards to recognize Berger’s project for Walt Disney World. In March 2010, he renewed his record with a structure that measures 10.39 long, 3.54 wide and 2.88 high containing almost 218.000 cards.

Source: daily-art.com

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