"QUANTUM SHOT" #587
Link
- article by
Dylan Thuras
and Avi Abrams
We welcome our guest writer, Dylan Thuras of the
Atlas Obscura,
with a spell-binding tale of the "living architecture"' the world
over, a tale which deserves to be told (and learned from, by modern
architects)
Living Architecture: Growing your house, one chair at a time
Plants are amazing: they provide food, air, medicine, and material for
buildings, furniture, and art. But through an ancient yet obscure craft,
still-living plants can themselves be shaped into bridges, tables,
ladders, chairs, sculptures - even buildings. Known variously as botanical
architecture, tree sculpture, tree-shaping, tree-grafting, pooktre,
arborsculpture, and arbortecture, the craft is, essentially, construction
with living plants.
(image credit:
Weihua Wei, CGSociety)
The concept seems to date back to prehistoric times. Perhaps the oldest
examples are the living bridges of Cherrapunjee, India.
1.
Root Bridges of India
In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on
earth, bridges aren't built -- they're grown.
(images credit:
Vanlal Tochhawng)
Grown from the roots of a rubber tree, the Khasis people of Cherapunjee
use betel-tree trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create
"root-guidance systems." When they reach the other side of the river,
they're allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time a sturdy,
living bridge is produced.
(image via)
The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to
fifteen years to become fully functional, but they're extraordinarily
strong. Some can support the weight of 50 or more people at once. One of
the most unique root structures of Cherrapunjee is known as the "Umshiang
Double-Decker Root Bridge." It consists of two bridges stacked one over
the other!
(images credit:
Marcus Fornell,
Jim Ratcliffe)
(image via 1,
2)
Because the bridges are alive and still growing, they actually gain
strength over time, and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the
people of the villages around Cherrapunjee may be well over 500 years old.
(image credit:
Marcus Fornell)
But these are not the only bridges built from growing plants. Japan too,
has its own form of living bridges.
2.
The Vine Bridges of Iya Valley
(image
via)
One of Japan's three "hidden" valleys, West Iya is home to the kind of
misty gorges, clear rivers, and thatched roofs one imagines in the Japan
of centuries ago. To get across the Iya River that runs through the rough
valley terrain, bandits, warriors and refugees created a very special - if
slightly unsteady - bridge made of vines.
(image via)
This is a picture from the 1880s of one of the original vine bridges.
(image
via)
First, two Wisteria vines -- one of the strongest vines known -- were
grown to extraordinary lengths from either side of the river. Once the
vines had reached a sufficient length they were woven together with
planking to create a pliable, durable and, most importantly, living piece
of botanical engineering.
(images via 1,
2)
The bridges had no sides, and a Japanese historical source relates that
the original vine bridges were so unstable, those attempting to cross them
for the first time would often freeze in place, unable to go any farther.
Three of those vine bridges remain in Iya Valley.
While some (though apparently not all) of the bridges have been reinforced with wire and side
rails, they are still harrowing to cross. More than 140 feet long, with
planks set six to eight inches apart and a drop of four-and-a-half stories
down to the water, they are not for acrophobes.
(images via 1,
)
Some people believe the existing vine bridges were first grown in the 12th
century, which would make them some of the oldest known examples of living
architecture in the world. But there is one ancient group of peoples who
took the concept to an entirely new level.
(image
via)
3.
The Living Islands of the Uros People
The Uros peoples' lives revolve around reeds. They make reed houses, reed
boats, reed flower tea, and use reeds as medicine.
(image credit:
Benjamin)
But most amazingly, the Uros build entire islands out of those very same
reeds. It is the fact that these islands are alive that makes them work.
The dense root structures of the living reed masses keeps the whole island
together and floating on the lake.
(images via 1,
2 )
As reeds disintegrate from the bottom of the islands, which are four to
eight feet thick, residents must add more to the surface. The entire
island moves slightly with the water, similar to the feeling of laying on
a waterbed. The Uros, however, have gotten quite used to it, as have the
cats, fowl and other animals that live on these floating islands.
(images via
1,
2)
The Uros have been living on these floating islands since the 1500s when
they were forced to take up residence on Lake Titicaca after the Incas
expanded into their territory. While many of the islands are moored to the
lakebed, they can be moved if necessary. One of the main advantages to
living on a floating island is that when the enemy comes too close, you
can just float the other way.
(image
via)
Even tiny outhouse islands have been created, in which the living roots
help absorb the waste.
(image
via)
Today, in the shadow of the Andes, on the world’s highest navigable lake,
hundreds of Uros (or descendants of the Uros, depending on how you define
them) live on these floating islands and make their living from fishing
and selling their reed handicrafts to tourists.
4. "Espalier" Art Form
Another more common form of tree shaping is known as espalier - the
process of creating three-dimensional forms out of trees. A popular
practice in Medieval times, the craft likely dates back to ancient Egypt.
Espalier can be used to make ornamental trees, increase the yield of a
fruit tree, or build a sturdy fence or wall from growing trees. On Pacific
Street in Pacific Heights, San Francisco:
(image credit:
David Pham,
ShapeShift.net)
One of the more famous examples of espalier can be seen at the Cloisters
in Manhattan, New York:
(image
via)
(A Living Menorah in Illinois, Allerton Park - image
via)
Of course, not all living architecture is about building or shaping things
out of trees. Sometimes it makes sense to build things inside of them...
5.
The Chapel Oak
Like something out of a fairy tale (or Keebler Elves commercial) the
hollowed trunk of this ancient oak tree is home to two small chapels,
reached by a spiral staircase winding up the trunk.
(images via
1,
2)
In the early 1660s, a 470-year-old oak tree in Allouville-Bellefosse,
France, was struck and hollowed by a lighting strike. Not only did the
tree survive this attack, but it came to the attention of Abbot Du Détroit
and Father Du Cerceau. In 1669 they began building a shrine to the Virgin
Mary directly inside the tree itself. Later, a staircase climbing the
outside of the tree was built and another chapel was added on a "second
floor" of the tree.
(image
via)
Things almost took a very bad turn for the tree during the French
Revolution when a mob stormed the tree and threatened to burn down this
symbol of the abhorred Church. A quick-thinking local renamed the oak the
"Temple of Reason," sparing it a fiery fate.
(images
via)
Here we enter what could be called the modern period of botanical
architecture. It begins in Wisconsin, with a banker named John Krubsack.
6.
The Chair That Grew
One day in 1903, a friend of Krubsack’s openly admired a beechwood chair
he had crafted. A man who perhaps didn't know how to take a compliment,
Krubsack announced, "Dammit, one of these days I am going to grow a piece
of furniture that will be better and stronger than any human hands can
build." Fifteen years later, he had done just that, with every joint in
his chair "cemented by nature".
(images via
1,
2)
Though many handsome offers were made for the famous chair, Krubsack
refused to sell, eventually leaving it to his nephew to be displayed in
his furniture store. The "Chair That Grew" was last seen at the entrance
of Noritage Furniture, owned by Krubsack’s descendants. The store recently
closed and the fate of the chair is unknown, but it likely still resides
somewhere in the tiny town of Embarrass, WI, not far from where it grew
nearly 100 years ago.
(images via
1,
2)
7.
The Circus Trees of Axel Erlandson
Where Krubsack was a pioneer, Axel Erlandson was a visionary -- though he
didn't know it at the time. Axel Erlandson never intended to create a new
genre of sculpture or become the father of an art movement. He just wanted
to entertain his family.
(images via 1,
2)
A farmer in California, Erlandson had noticed the curious ability of trees
to naturally graft themselves together. So, in 1925 Erlandson began
planning a series of trees that were deliberately grafted together for
artistic effect. His first creation was the "Four Legged Giant," four
trees which he merged into a single truck, creating a kind of tree-gazebo.
In 1945, twenty years after Erlandson had begun his hobby, his daughter
suggested to her father that he might open some kind of "Tree Circus" to
showcase his unusual arbor creations. Erlandson did just that, creating
over 70 unique items in his Tree Circus. Among his creations were a tree
that split into a cube, an arch tree and a six-tree woven basket.
(images credit:
Arborsmith.com)
The Tree Circus was a not much of a financial success, and in 1963
Erlandson sold the property, trees and all, and died shortly thereafter.
It wasn't long before all 70 trees were forgotten and by 1977 only forty
of the unique specimens remained. These were all scheduled to be bulldozed
to create a mall.
Luckily for the trees, and for the world, they were
saved from this fate by Michael Bonfante, owner of Nob Hill Foods.
Bonfante, a horticultural connoisseur, opened a theme park and in 1985
relocated the trees to what is now known as Gilroy Gardens.
(images via 1,
2)
Today, 25 of Axel Erlandson's tree-shaping creations are on display at
Gilroy Gardens, and his first creation, the Four Legged Giant remains
alive and well some 80 years after Erlandson’s idea first took root.
8.
The Auerworld Palace
Many of these marvels are the works of one dedicated person, but the
mysterious Auerworld Palace took some 300 volunteers to create. Architect
Marcel Kalberer and his group, Sanfte Strukturen, are re-envisioning the
way living building materials and techniques can be used to design modern
spaces - with willows.
(images credit:
SanfteStrukturen,
via)
Constructed in 1998, the Auerworld Palace in Aeurstedt, Germany may be the
first modern "willow palace," but the techniques Kalberer uses are
ancient. Sumerian reed houses were famous for their construction of
tightly bound reeds.
(other structures by Sanfte Strukturen - images via
1, 2)
But where Kalberer and his team create buildings out of trees, Austrian
artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser has created a building
inspired by, and incorporating, trees.
9.
Waldspirale, or Forest Spiral
Hundertwasser wasn’t much fond of straight lines, dubbing them "the
devil's tools." In fact, his famous apartment building, Waldspirale, does
away with them entirely and is instead a celebration of nature’s sinuous
loops and arcs. Located in Darmstadt, Germany, Waldspirale translates to
"wooded spiral," and that is exactly what it is. It hosts as many trees as
human occupants.
(images via
1,
2)
10. Modern Organic Forms
Today a growing number of tree grafters, arborsculptors and botanical
architects are working to create new organic forms. Among them is
Richard Reames who
coined the terms arborsculpture and arbortecture (he also
has a book on the subject, order it
here).
Richard grows and shapes tree trunks using the ancient arts of grafting,
framing, bending and pruning. He believes that his living arborsculptures
could one day replace many of the things that trees are typically killed
to make.
(images credit:
Richard Reames)
Another absolutely wonderful tree grafter who has been working since
before the form even had a name is
Dan Ladd. Ladd
crafts trees into whimsical shapes, and incorporates other objects into
the trees.
(images credit: Dan Ladd)
Ladd
also practices the ancient art of gourd shaping. These are all gourds that
were growing inside of forms. They have not been carved or altered after
they were harvested.
(images credit: Dan Ladd)
Tree grafters Peter Cook and his wife Becky Northey have developed a range
of their own special tree-shaping techniques, which they call
pooktre.
(image credit: Peter Cook)
Among the many other artists working in the form are
Konstantin Kirsch,
Laura Spector, and
Aharon Naveh.
(images credit:
Aharon Naveh)
(staircases by
Laura Spector)
Best links on the subject and further reading:
1,
2,
3,
4,
5.
(image credit:
Weihua Wei, CGSociety)
ALSO READ: "ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE OF A. GAUDI" ->
DON'T MISS: "HOBBIT HOUSES!" ->
|
14 Comments:
Reames has a book on the subject.
http://www.arborsmith.com
WOW
I don't think I've ever clicked on quite so wonderful a link before.
I've often thought about this kinda thing, read about it in fantasy novels... extremely excited to see it coming to life. Good show.
I think that Tomasz Bagiński's Cathedral is a bit on topic here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8GyHvBogrI
Wow...every bit of that was incredibly interesting. Thanks for sharing that information with us!
There are new building materials being introduced nowadays made with super dense formed fungus. Its apparently tons stronger than drywall, and far lighter as well.
This is wonderful! The "chair that grew" reminds me of Odysseus' marriage bed (made of a living tree, so when Penelope tells him she's moved it, he gets angry and thus proves he's really her husband).
Down here in Australia, the Boab tree of the semi-arid west has a short, squat and voluminious trunk that had been used variously as a house, jail and particularly sturdy restroom.
Meat - "Superdense Formed Fungus Furniture"! Sounds great, can't wait to get one (just don't want it to grow too much...)
I actually grew up with a shaped tree in the backyard— my dad spent a couple of decades shaping a cave out of the lower branches of a mulberry, while the upper area has a fort-like feel, big enough for several adults (we've gotten at least eight up there at one time.) It was a great place to read.
When I was going to college, my dad asked if he should remove the cave. "Dad, you are going to have grandchildren at some point!"
Not to the level of these things, but it goes to show that even an amateur can come up with something lovely and appreciated.
Next up? Skyscrapers! http://blogs.discovery.com/news_sustainable/2009/09/tree_tower.html
This is so fantastically beautiful. Thank you: this made my week!
AMAZING!!!
Fantastic presentation! Marvelous! But, all that is not just fantasy of some crazy peoples. It is part of our own cultural heritage. Not only huts and shelters of reeds or twig-arks bound with lianas covered with leaves are still part of everyday life in many places of the world. In ethnology or cultural anthropology this is well known today. But archaeology has mistakenly taught us to accept only durable materials as prehistory of material culture. In contrast to this we can construct a "soft prehistory" getting together all the secondary sources of signs (early script in China and Mesopotamia) and symbols (life trees) and even early representations of deities (Ishtar-Inanna of Uruk) with their roots in neolithic village culture where they were important as territorial signs and nuclear aesthetic models of the local village culture.
We know even that there were "Babylonian Creation myths" focused not on the universe but on the foundation of the local "cosmos" (that is the spatial organization) of an agrarian village by making a deity of reed which grew and grows in abundance in the Eufrat/Tigris region. The founder becomes some sort of chief of the village. The "Marsh Arabs" are still widespread living there in reed huts and around reed mosques, but having Islam as their religion today.
Paradoxically this very ancient "soft prehistory" is still vital as a sacred tradition of annual cyclic renewal of sacred Shinto-symbols in Japanese agrarian villages. From these traditional survivals we can understand that, originally, this was not "primitive religion", but was a very complex event, an essentially aesthetic territorial demarcation system which used only one symbol in the center of the village built of reed an bamboo and using its aesthetic structure to define the village territory Yin-Yang style: "holy woods and agricultural fields". The annual renewal of the symbol had become a festival of central importance for the village. The destruction of the old one put the whole population into a crazy ecstasy for one night until the new one was rebuilt next morning.
Important: early civilizations copied a lot from this nuclear territorial system of the neolithic agrarian village!
See my 6 videos 01-06 at YouTube (type: 'negenter' in search)
Those "beautiful glass trees" in the BONUS section are by sculptor Dale Chihuly
http://www.chihuly.com/
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