Blades taken from retired wind turbines form a sculptural playground in this conceptual Burning Man installation designed by American architecture firm Michael Mannhard Workshop.

Bladeyard A Turbine Blade Playscape reimagines a wreckage site made of dozens of wind turbine parts. It is intended to draw attention to the waste of the renewable energy machines, which Michael Mannhard Workshop said can't be recycled after use.

"Designed as a ruin, Bladeyard re-contextualises the enormity and streamlined architecture of these symbols of our renewable future while serving as a warning for the consequences of waste and shortsightedness in how we imagine the end-of-use of our built world," the Washington state-based studio said.

Mannhard, who grew up in the Midwest, recalls passing by fields outfitted with large turbines, which convert wind into electricity and offer a more environmentally friendly energy alternative in comparison to fossil fuels.

Parts of the machines, including the blades which can measure up to 100 metres (328 feet), however, can't be recycled and are reportedly piling up in landfills. Michael Mannhard Workshop said the project aims to show the counter-intuitive nature of the object meant to represent a sustainable future.

"These objects are now layered in new meaning as symbols of our shortsightedness in how we approach our built world and the incredible challenge of designing for the whole life cycle of products," the studio added.

Mannhard's proposed installation submerges various sized blades into the landscape of Nevada's Black Rock Desert where the annual event takes place.

The turbine parts lay across the sandy floor and stick up out of the ground. Burning Man revellers would be encouraged to climb on, meander through and hide inside the tubular pieces.

"Participants can feel the physical reminder of this warning as they climb on, seek shelter under, and wander through this forest of immense sculptural blades," it said.

Drawings of the imagined design show the bases of the white blades lit up at night.

Bladeyard is proposed for the Burning Man 2021 festival. After the event the installation would be dismantled and situated on a more permanent site.

Burning Man still plans to host its 2020 activities from 30 August to 7 September despite the cancellation of a number of large-scale events in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Architect Renzo Verbeck and artist Sylvia Adrienne Lisse have designed an eight-pointed angular structure that will serve as the main temple at Burning Man 2020.