In Farmland World, speed is a catalyst for reconfiguring the relationship between the city, the rural landscape and the animal/machine hybrids that cultivate land. Capitalizing on both recent investments in high-speed rail infrastructure and the plentiful subsidies for farming, the network of resorts combines crowd-sourced farm labor with eco-tainment. The project received a second runner-up in the Animal Architecture Awards.

Farmland World © Design With Company

The nature of farming is forever changed. From utilitarian machinery to show piece display, both farm animals and farm machinery express a range of complex personalities. Which poses the question: can these overlaps and mutable identities expand to contend with the various crises the farm industry is facing today? In this project, speed is a catalyst for reconfiguring the relationship between the city, the rural landscape and the animal/machine hybrids that cultivate land.

Farmland World is a chain of agro-tourist resorts sprinkled across the American Midwestern countryside. Part theme park and part working farm, guests arrive to the resort via high-speed train and stay as part of 1-day, 3-day or 5-day experience packages. Guests perform daily chores as self-imposed distractions from the toil of their daily lives. Among the countless activities offered, guests can also choose to ride the Animal Farmatures, the dual natured farm implements that complete traditional farm tasks while performing grand rural-techno spectacles. When its time to leave for home, guests climb back into the train, weary and satisfied from their labors, as they marvel at the passing landscape they helped transform.

All the images are courtasy of Design With Company. Design With Company is the Illinois-based consortium founded by Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer in 2010. They teach at the UIUC and practice what they call "Slipstream Architecture," which reveals latent conditions of reality through design narratives and fictions.

This article is originally published in MasContext, a quarterly journal created by MAS Studio, addresses issues that affect the urban context.