Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
For her "Empire of Dust" series, French photographer Amélie Labourdette's spent a month traveling across Italy documenting the country's abandoned building sites.
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
Many look as though their building crews and cranes stepped off site only yesterday; others as though they were abandoned decades ago.
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
Labourdette photographed unfinished buildings, as well as roads and bridges.
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
"The list of incomplete constructions littering the Italian landscape is remarkable," Labourdette says. "They seem to be in competition with ancient ruins [like] the Colosseum or the Roman Forum."
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
"Incompletion is the most important architectural style in Italy and it's key to interpreting the architecture of the public sector since WWII. It's also an excellent metaphor for bad management of public affairs and embezzlement of public money," she adds.
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
Many of the silhouettes are reminiscent of minimalist sculptures from the 1960s.
Courtesy Amélie Labourdette
Labourdette shot the photos at dawn or dusk, when "the atmosphere seems to bring out the atemporality of the landscape."

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by The Spaces, a digital publication exploring new ways to live and work.

CNN  — 

Across the south of Italy, unfinished foundations and concrete frames rise from a landscape of rolling hills and thick canopies of trees. Many look as though their building crews and cranes stepped off site only yesterday; others as though they were abandoned decades ago.

These “interrupted” remains are the focus of French photographer Amélie Labourdette’s series “Empire of Dust.”

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For the project, she spent a month traveling across Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Puglia with her assistant Wilfried Nail documenting the country’s abandoned building sites, which are almost as ubiquitous as vineyards and orchards in the regions.

Roads and bridges built in the middle of nowhere; parks, aqueducts, swimming pools; railway stations, theaters, parking lots, and even a polo stadium are among sites the photographer has captured.

“The list of incomplete constructions littering the Italian landscape is remarkable. They seem to be in competition with ancient ruins [like] the Colosseum or the Roman Forum,” she says.

Visit The Spaces to find out more about Italy’s abandoned building sites.