Last month we shared a story on the 100-foot long tree bridges grown by Nongriat locals in Meghalaya, India. These extraordinary pieces of organic infrastructure are part of a 500-year-old tradition, and had Gaudí seen these, we think the Sagrada Família may well have been fashioned out of a redwood.

Well, that’s actually the idea behind a new project by Stockholm-based Visiondivision aptly named “The Patient Gardener.” Designboom recently released the preliminary plans and renderings for their proposed two-story retreat forged out of ten carefully intertwined Japanese cherry trees. Click to see more!

As guest professors at a weeklong workshop at Italy’s largest technical university, the Politecnico di Milano, Visiondivision sought to explore immediate ways to integrate environmental consciousness with contemporary design. The result was “The Patient Gardener,” an 8-meter diameter ring of cherry trees that will be bent, twisted, and pruned to grow into a sprouting, two-story structure.

At the ground level, the cherry trees will form a dome-like shelter, equipped with tree furniture and grass armchairs. Visitors can lounge at the lower level or climb an organically grafted stairway to the second story, where they will be welcomed into a dense, inhabitable crown of cherry blossoms.

Visiondivision has already erected a temporary tower fitted with ropes that will eventually attach to the growing trees to guide the bending trunks. The plan and maintenance process will be continuously passed on to future gardeners until the completion of the project, predicted to be about 60 years from now. Patience is definitely the name of the game here, but 60 years is a good deal faster than the Sagrada Família.

[All photos courtesy of the architects and Designboom]

by Kelly Chan

posted in Uncategorized

tagged Antoni Gaudi, Architecture, building, ecological, ecology, environment, green, green architecture, italy, landscape architecture, living architecture, Milan, stockholm, trees, Visiondivision

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