Arborsculpture

Old living fence found in Germany

2011-09-06T12:22:00.001-07:00

The fence was planted in Germany around 1940.

Hi Richard, There are new pictures from the living fence. A reader of my blog was visiting this great arborsclupture. He also made some pictures of the leaves. So I can tell you that the species is Sorbus intermedia. But the half of the fence is made out of forsythia!

Find the pictures here:
http://www.d-marc.de/natur/ohrdruf/index.htm You may click on the pictures to enlarge them

Trees by Dan Ladd

2011-06-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

Faux Arborsculpture

2010-03-15T10:12:00.000-07:00

In Jyokoji-cho, Seto Japan. There is a park with cement logs. The fascinating part is that the depiction is of structural grafting and the heavy chainsaw pruning. Apparently there are other examples of this kind of cement art. Anyone know if there is a name for it ?

Really big leaves

2010-01-24T20:14:00.000-08:00

From Anthony Crain.

Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain

Some correct planting procedures for trees, by Dr. Alex Shigo

2009-11-27T11:21:00.000-08:00

Fall is the best time of year to plant a tree in the Northern hemisphere !

1. Select healthy trees. Do not buy or plant trees that have roots crushed or crowded in a bag or container.
2. Plant properly. Do not plant too deep.
3. Plant the right tree in the right place. Do not plant large-maturing trees near buildings or power lines.

1. Select healthy trees
Money is wasted when you buy or plant trees that have roots crowded or crushed in bags or containers. Check roots before you buy or plant. If only a few roots are crushed, remove them with a sharp cut.

2. Plant properly
DO:
Plant at the depth where roots spread from the trunk. Prepare a planting site, not just a hole in the ground. Loosen the soil far beyond the drip line of the tree. Brace the tree only if it will not remain upright in a moderate wind. If necessary, brace only with broad, belt-like materials that won't injure the bark. Mulch away from the trunk with composted material (mulch should not touch trunk). Keep soil moist, not water-logged, to the depth of the roots. Remove dead and dying branches. Wait until the second growing season to begin training cuts for shaping and to begin fertilizing.

DO NOT:
Do not plant to deep. Do not bury roots in small deep holes. Do not wrap trees. Do not amend the soil, unless the soil is very poor. Do not brace the tree so tightly that the tree cannot sway. Do not brace with wire in a hose. Do not fertilize at planting time. Do not plant grass or flowers near the tree. Do not remove branches to balance crown with roots.

3. Plant the right tree in the right place
DO NOT plant large-maturing trees near buildings or power lines. Money is wasted when trees are topped or mutilated later. If a tree must be planted near power lines, plant only dwarf or low, compact species or varieties. Talk to knowledgeable people about the many choices you have for trees that have mature shapes and sizes that will fit your planting site.

About the Author

Dr. Alex L. Shigo is considered by many to be one of the foremost authorities on trees in the world. Shigo Died in 2006. obit http://www.shigoandtrees.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=5

He learned that many commonly-held concepts about heart rot and decomposition and other theories were wrong. "I could either go with the book (theories) or go with what I saw in the tree. Either the books were wrong or the trees were wrong. I chose to go with the trees," Shigo says.

Mark Primack's new web site

2009-11-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

Mark Primack, Architect Santa Cruze

California, has recently put up a new web site.

Primack was instrumental in saving Erlandson's trees in the 1980's.

Mark shares a range of historical photos of

Axel and his trees.

This site is well worth a look. http://markprimack.com/pages/tree_circus/tree_circus.html

Take a class, have fun for a whole week !

2009-09-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

November 1st to 7th The World Famous John C. Campbell School of Folk Art will host

Arborsculpture- The shaping of living tree trunks.

Please join me for a week of creative designing, planting and pruning, study previous works growing on campus, meet artisans from around the world. Hope to see you there.

Richard

2009-09-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Wistera bridges and more

Arbo-architects - Tower Made Of Living Trees

2009-08-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

Research Group Baubotanik at the Institute of Theory of Modern Architecture and Design (University of Stuttgart)

"Basically, the tower consists of a framework-like structure made of several hundred young, only two meters high plants (White Willow/salix alba). Only the plants at the ground are planted in the soil, all others are rooted in plant containers, plugged in a temporary steel scaffolding"

Science Daily

2009-08-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

Vegetalcity

Awesome Visionary Illustrations

and concepts by Luc Schuiten

http://vegetalcity.net/index.html

Elephant hides in tree !

2009-08-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ever see a Elephant in a tree ?

This is not your fathers topiary !

Located in Myanmar (Burma)

Photo by Ray VarnBuhler

2009-08-11T10:10:00.000-07:00

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built - they're grown.

The living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves.

More bridge photos and info here

Herman Block donates 2 living chairs

2009-08-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

Herman Block donates 2 living arborsculpture chairs to the garden of Konstantin Kirsch

see Konstantin's blog (bablefish translation from german to english)

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http://www.konstantin-kirsch.de/&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

Tree Shapers

2009-07-28T18:26:00.001-07:00

Tree Shapers

Becky Northy of Pooktre offers this new web site Tree Shapers from around the world.

This site brings togther and reveales the larger picture of what going on in the world of Tree Shaping today.

2009-07-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Three young German architects are designing structures made completely out of living trees, including a pavilion for concerts in downtown Stuttgart. But designing the ultimate treehouse turns out to be trickier than one might expect. see the photo gallery! more...

Ficus house- Okinawa

2009-05-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

In Bio park on the island of Okinawa, Japan, this Ficus shelter is the worlds best (a far as I know) example of a intentionally grown living house. A real living tree house.

I wounder who the artist is and have they grown any other works ?

Native Americans

2009-05-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

It has been thought that Native Americans bent trees into shapes that pointed to something important to them at the time – water, cave, stream crossing, boundary, etc., and that the early settlers for at least some time, continued the practice. Here are a few photos of that type of tree manipulation.

Others say that the Native Americans never did this, and that these trees are only an oddity of Nature.

Anyone have a take on the subject ?

Steve Chyrchel, Interpretive Naturalist
Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area

Creations by Nature

2009-02-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Rooney Floyd, a friend and regular student at the J.C. Campbell School of Folk Art in North Carolina, found a wonderful example of inosculation.

He writes....

"Last November at your slide presentation, I got your book which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am amazed by the art of arborsculpture. We discussed the man in South Carolina, where I live, named Pearl and you knew of his foliage sculpture work. I remember how among all the beautiful sculpture you had photographed worldwide, you showed some examples from nature and said they were your favorites. Well...I found one! See the attached photos. Three of us retirees were on a field trip in the deep forest along the Savannah River, on a dirt road, and I glimpsed the tree with a hole in the middle.

It is what we call a black gum or toothbrush tree (Black Tupelo, Nyssa Slyvatica in the book). It is on the higher terrace of the Savannah River Swamp in Aiken County, South Carolina, near Silver Bluff, a site visited by Hernando De Soto about 1580. It appears to be two 10-12 inch forks from a single trunk of about 20 inches in diameter. The fork is about 2 feet above ground and the two branches reconnect perfectly about 8 feet above the fork to form a single trunk again of about 18 inches. The tree looks normal and healthy above the reconnection. This photo was recently taken in winter and no leaves were on the tree.

Wizard with pipe

2009-02-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

I met a magician in the forest the other day. His name was Lucien, and he had a white beard, smoked a pipe, and invited us to see his magical arborsculptures, he's been grafting for over 60 years!

Fact or fiction only the wizard knows !

Trees eating things- photo collection

2009-01-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

Trees eating things, largest collection of photos I have ever come across. Germany Language.

Cambium Growth explained Visually

2009-01-26T17:19:00.000-08:00

Cambium Growth Explained Visually

just a small blue dot

2009-01-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

If your troubles seam to be overwhelming you, just remember how small and insignificant your life really is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p86BPM1GV8M&eurl=http://www.facebook.com/home.php

New on the web- From the Book

2008-12-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have put the first two sections of the Pioneers. Chapter 6 of My book
Arborsculpture- Solutions for a Small Planet on my web site.
See Axel Erlandson's Tree Circus and John Krubsack's Chair that Lived.

Like Erlandson, now John Krubsack has his own Wikipedia Page.

Arborsculpture on e-bay

2008-12-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Here is something you don't see everyday !

A harvested arborsculpture for sale. This Guava chair was grown by Nirandr Boonnetr

in Thailand. It required 5 years of loving attention and is now offered for sale by his daughter.

You can find other listings on e-bay by searching the word "arborsculpture"

This is a unique opportunity for the right person to jump start the collectors market in a very very rare art form, that has just begun to offer items for the art market.

Konstantin Kirsch living house

2008-12-06T18:51:00.000-08:00

Checkout
Konstantin Kirsch living house
Video with English subtitles.

J.C. Campbell

2008-11-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

This years class at J.C. Campbell in North Carolina was the best yet ! For the first time our class had 3 year old arborsculptures to study and improve. Benches made in 2005 were looking great and inspired the students with examples of what they could achieve. The School provides an environment of folksy fun, good food and nice lodging. My Class designed and planted the Worlds First Ash love seat. Sign up now for this week long class and learn, hands on, how to shape and graft trees to take the shapes of your ideas. Arborsculpture at J.C. Campbell You can see Ron Hubbard photos from the week I was there... here.

http://nat1rlh.smugmug.com/

The Gossamer Engine

2008-09-28T16:24:00.000-07:00

TREES: TWO-DIMENSIONAL ENGINES THAT FINESSE THE RIGORS OF THREE-DIMENSIONALITY

The Gossamer Engine THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT WOOD
Bob Wulkowicz has started a tree talk forum "The Gossamer Engine" He presents new ways of thinking about trees.
Bob' Bio http://users.rcn.com/bobw.enteract/bobswebbio.html

Growing Jewlery

2008-09-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Growing Jewelry

Living plant constructions- Germany

2008-09-07T16:57:00.001-07:00

" The buildings are both aesthetic and innovative. They are not built on traditional foundations, they are planted. In living plant constructions, a still recent field of research at the interface between botany and architecture, trees are the architects’ building material. A beautiful example is the Willow Pavilion, which has just been inaugurated at the Botanical Gardens at the University of Freiburg. "

http://www.bio-pro.de/en/region/freiburg/magazin/03899/index.html

Caption This

2008-08-12T21:34:00.000-07:00

Caption contest at

http://drunkcyclist.com/wordpress/2008/08/12/caption-this-22/

My Fav...

Anyone can catch air, but how’s your hangtime?

2008-08-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

Trees for medicine and urban renewal... New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/science/12prof.html?th&emc=th

Attack of the Sap Sucker

2008-08-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Attack of the Sap Sucker

Birds and trees get along just fine except for a notable exception, the Sap Sucker. This aberration of nature pecks holes in trees and then returns to drink the sap and eat the insects that are attracted to the sap.

With a tongue like a humming bird and the beak of wood pecker the sap sucker set it's table with a series of holes around a Birch and an Alder in my garden. Two of them are dining now, I tried painting some of the holes with Cayenne pepper. I haven't seen them drinking from the pepper painted holes, I just see more holes higher up on the tree now. Notice the hole in the bark at the birds foot.

A native Red Alder arborsculpture left, pours fluid from the Sap Sucker holes.

Thigmomorphogenesis

2008-05-31T13:21:00.000-07:00

Thigmomorphogenesis
I did not make up that word thank god ! Whoever did should be punished.

It means responding by growth pattern to a physical stimulus. It is a key element in arborsculpture. I'm sharing it with you today because one of my trees is showing off its efficiency in trunk building. While researching the phenomena, I came across a great web based tree science course, this is session 4 .

Two poplars were grafted together about 10 ten years ago. After the trees stopped moving in the east west direction, the need for an equal amount of wood in that area was decreased. Over time a concave shape appeared on the inside area of the joined trees. Trees are natures most efficient builders only adding material to the locations that serve it's structural needs.

The rainbow colored glass was added about 4 years ago.

A different explanation is offered by Bob Wulkowicz. "Transport Shadow effect"

The parts of the tree beneath the graft is shadowed and therefor grows less.

Nipple extension

2008-05-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Nipple extension.
In the life of every facet (encased inside a living tree) there come a time, every few years when an extension needs to be added.
The first photo is from 1996. The second is from 1999 just after the first nipple extension.
The last two were taken this week showing before and after the extension.

David Nash

2008-04-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

David Nash began work in the early 1970s on an “Ash Dome”
Nearly 30 years later, the work is now taking on the domed form that he had planned for and intended when he first began: David Nash's Ash Dome.
Photo from 2004
From Cornell University a web page on Tree Sculpture.

Cathedral Grove

2008-04-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.cathedralgrove.se/text/03-Europeans-Care-2.htm

This Web site Rocks !

From the page...

Many writers, such as Herman Hesse, have described the primordial force of statuesque old trees in the German landscape: "Trees are sanctuaries. Someone, who knows to talk to them, who knows to listen to them, will learn the truth. They don't preach doctrines or formulas, they preach - not concerned about details - the fundamental law of life."

Time lapse project

2008-03-31T09:08:00.000-07:00

Time lapse project.

Peace and love in Apple, just starting to bud out now. Watch this space for a announcement that this years growth is coming to a You Tube near you !

I'm making a time lapse film that will compress spring, summer and fall into a few minutes. I'm hoping to learn some things about tree growth that are not apparent from day to day observations. The bucket in the foreground was modified with a clear bottom and holds the camera and hopefully keeps it dry and operating for the duration.

2008-03-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

Medicine for a too fast life

2008-03-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

Arborsculpture is therapeutic, a garden art that snares the artist, first into looking at trees, then touching trees and finally into designing and nurturing trees. Along the way patients and her illusionary mother time are pulled out by there roots and added to the compost pile, destine to become some future now's fertilizer.
The entry price to practicing this art is to check your speed at the garden gate and enter the slow motion world of tree time. A place where your own
thoughts are as loud as the wind in the leaves. Where the tortoise nature of the trees creeps up from behind and beats the hell out of your hare nature. But its all in good sport and the lessons are invaluable.

Kansas City Garden Symposium

2008-02-25T18:39:00.001-08:00

Left to right....

Yours truly, Jennifer Bartley, Dan Benarcik, Rosemary Alexander.

Jennifer is the author of "Designing the New Kitchen Garden"

she is a landscape designer, artist, photographer and speaker.

Dan Benarcik is a teacher, garden writer and horticulturist at Chanticleer, an innovative garden in Wayne, Pennsylvania where he oversees the tropical garden. Dan is a polished public speaker with a great collection of slides.

Rosemary Alexander is one of the pioneering figures in the world of garden design, has devoted a lifetime to her profession, running an established garden design business as well as the English Gardening School, where she directs the Garden-Design Diploma Course. She is the author of several garden design books as well as being an excellent speaker. I'm sure she would have had a much better time if the airlines had not lost her luggage !

So how did I happen to find my self in such esteemed company ? Just lucky I guess... Our hosts treated us to a night in the world famous Jardine's where we were treated to an evening of Ida McBeth.

I came away from the experience of being treated like a celebrity knowing I would need some larger hats and a desire to really start pursuing this public speaker gig! My Thanks to Powell Gardens and all the volunteers that made this weekend so fantastic !

Book Review- The Wild Trees

2008-02-18T06:46:00.000-08:00

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston. I just finished reading this awesome book. Preston tells the story of a man named Kevin who dreams of finding the world’s tallest tree (and goes out in the forest and accomplishes it). And the story of his relationship with a tree climbing scientist and some of the first people to ever study the forest canopy ecosystem. The redwood forest has always held a place in my heart and this book, in passionate detail tells the adventures of finding and climbing the tallest living things on earth.

Tree talk

2008-02-02T20:40:00.000-08:00

The talking oak to the ancient spoke. But any tree will talk to me.-Mary Carolyn Davies

I have been thinking about how trees talk. I think that it’s probably not so much that that trees talk but some tuned in people can listen. Trees are nature’s perfect antennas. I mean just look at their shape a double ended antenna one end spread deep in the earth the other end spread into the sky.
I believe it's just a matter of tuning in to these antennas to hear just what you need to hear. What do you think ?

Why are there trees I never walk under but large and melodious thoughts descend upon me?- Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road

Ivan Hicks and his Tree Tricks

2007-12-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

This hardbound color book 116 pages out of England gets the "Thumbs up" "Bravo Bravo!"
I have just finished reading it and recommend it as the latest contribution to the field. This book titled "Tricks with Trees" by Ivan Hicks and Richard Rosenfeld takes a wide angle look at using trees in many different ways in landscape or garden settings. There are soft and hard styles in arborsculpture, the authors describe many of the simpler softer arborsculpture project ideas using drawings and photos. The writing style is not the typical dry English garden book at all it's almost witty with lots of attempts at humor.
I admit feeling some trepidation after providing the authors with the best of my photo collection. His treatment of my photos and his text overall was fair enough and I'm happy to have this book in my library.

Harvesting the boat

2007-12-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

Six years ago Laird Funk (above) a neighbor of mine had the wild idea to grow a boat ! He enlisted a little help from me, as I had some experience in growing things, just not boats of course. Laird contacted a boat magazine and received a contract to write about the progress.. articles appear in www.maineboats.com/ Maine boats and harbor

The fateful day arrived when the boat was deemed ready, the first 3 photos taken on harvest day, the last was taken 6 years ago on planting day.

Happy Holidays everyone and keep growing !

Plantware donation

2007-11-25T15:59:00.000-08:00

(Ezekiel Golan writes )
Plantware has donated one of it's prototypes - the living bench to the children's playground in the "Shiba" hospital complex in Tel-Aviv.
Here are some pics from the installation and the donation ceremony http://www.flickr.com/photos/21066141@N04/sets/
I recommend watching the slideshow (the interesting pictures of the bench itself are at the end).
Please note some technical comments - the bench was donated with the temporary template which will be removed when the roots holding up the seat have become thick enough and strong enough. The seat is the only deadwood part of the bench that will remain embedded permanently. The bench was designed with this in mind. It was planted in Revivim a year ago.

New content on my web site

2007-11-17T15:18:00.001-08:00

It's up and running ! The new http://www.Arborsmith.com is ready for prime time. Help me find the bugs and typos and earn my gratitude. You will discover step by step instructions for growing our own chair, new photos in new galleries and a bunch of stuff you have never seen before !
Check it out and let me know what you think.

Richard

Very Large Topiary

2007-10-01T09:16:00.001-07:00

Photoshop, or the real deal ?

Hard to say but it is possible with a tall ladder to do something like this.

Redwood Home

2007-09-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

http://mysite.verizon.net/reswz5tl/

The China Connection

2007-08-17T14:03:00.000-07:00

The last post contained a link to a flicker photo of an arborsculpture in China. Several months ago I was told about the same shape, same design growing at the Shanghai domestic airport. After checking in with Google maps I found out the 2 locations are about 2000 miles apart.
This raises several questions that I'm hoping someone can answer for me.
How common is this design ? Are there other designs ?
How common is arborsculpture in china ?
Is there a name for it ?
What species, if any, other than Ficus is used ?

dg03 arborsculpture on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

2007-08-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

China arborsculpture on Flickr

By Matt Kirkland
www.mattkirkland.com

"There are literally hundreds more like it lining the main streets in Ho Jie Town, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province."

Tree eats bike

2007-07-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

Yet another bicycle found consumed by a tree... makes the news.

Dwell is swell

2007-07-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Dwell magazine profile

http://www.dwell.com/peopleplaces/profiles/4993001.html

50 year old lattice in germany by Neulohe.

2007-07-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

From-

Konstantin Kirsch

http://gesundseincoach.blogspot.com/2007/07/gitterhecken-in-bringhausen.html

Bablefish:

Yesterday I visited the place bringing living at the Edersee. There in the years 1930-1950 hundred meters at lattice hedges were put on. In these years there the company Neulohe worked. With the granddaughter of the firm founder I could make a few pictures of old photo albums:

The far over 50 years old lattice hedges are kept partly still good. Some pieces died however. (We harvested the dead piece to protect it from rot).

Willa, The Living Chair

2007-06-25T09:19:00.000-07:00

Willa, The Living Chair
The living chair is a volunteer project. The volunteers have worked over the last year to construct a chair from live willow trees.

See it in Minnetrista's Children's Garden

Green walls Green roof

2007-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:00

Living walls and more, lots of photos.

Lebende Bauwerke or Living Buildings

2007-06-07T21:22:00.000-07:00

Konstantin Kirsch, author of Naturbauten notes that he would like to see the use of the word Arborsculpture continue to grow and sends this article from the German media where the word is used in the first paragraph. Bablefish English translation.

Konstantin now owns http://www.arborsculpture.de/

Book Review

2007-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

Jean English

In depth Review of Arborsculpture- Solutions for a Small Planet

Tree Pressure

2007-05-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Tree Pressure

About 8 years ago when my daughter was 6, I was informed that I needed to construct a tree house.

A suitable grove of trees near our house seamed to be the perfect spot. Armed with some scrap wood a hammer and some nails I threw myself into the task. I know, I know, mom always told me "don't hammer nails into trees" but that was before Dr. Alex Shigo discovered the CODIT response. CODIT stands for "compartmentalization of decay in trees". Trees will produce a chemical barrier to stop the spread of decay. That is why inert items that enter a tree are easily dealt with and seldom pose a problem to a healthy tree.

I simply nailed short pieces of 2x4 onto the trees to hold the poles that were the frame for the floor. Now the trees of course continued to grow.

According to one study, tree roots will generate about 75 pounds per square inch. I am assuming that trunks also generate this kind of pressure. The photo illustrates how the 2x4 is being pushed away while the nails are held in place resulting in a situation where eventually the 2x4 will be pushed out while the nails are pulled through. Notice how deep the nail heads are.

Richard

Tree Windows

2007-05-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Bruce Parker and his tree windows

Growing a Hidden Architecture - Christian Kerrigan

2007-05-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

"We have reached a point in our evolution where we are now capable of creating design criteria to manipulate natural growth and development." Here are a number of stunning award winning drawings he has produced to bring his futuristic visions to life

See the whole story here

Thanks to Joshua Foer

"May the Bird of Happiness, nest in your arborsculptures "

2007-05-20T14:22:00.001-07:00

A Steller's
Jay nest
in the
upturned
roots of the
grown
Madax
handle

Ron Lanner- dedicated tree guy

2007-05-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

The web site of Ron Lanner- http://ronaldlanner.com/index.htm
This site is devoted to trees. Among naturalists, biologists, environmentalists, and others trees get lots of lip service but mighty little respect. Everybody admits to liking trees, but few bother to really learn much about them -- and true respect demands a reasonable level of knowledge. Why is this?

Maximum possible tree height 130m ?

2007-05-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/310/5756/1896

Research on tree height limits and reasons why trees grow faster when younger.

Wikipedia

2007-04-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

If you are an experienced Wikipedia editor and want to help write nutral well refrenced article curently tiled "tree shaping" then by all means go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborsculpture and contribute.

Living Architecture

2007-04-22T20:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.newalexandria.org/papers/LA/slide0001.htm

http://www.newalexandria.org/works/LA/index.htm

Tree Sculpting & Living Architecture

Throughout history, humans have sought to live closer to nature and seek a balance between dwellings and the trees they are built near. In fantasy and reality this desire has been accomplished in a wide variety of forms. In this work, we explore the shaping of a tree's trunk and branches to create a 'shell.' Over this is laid mosses and soils, into which the tree may send out roots. These roots will stabilize the soil from erosion, recontouring the landscape and creating an interior space which may be finished to suit the structures use. In this way, buildings and dwellings can be formed.These structures blend gracefully with their environment, as the threshold may be pronounced or subtle. The plan of these dwellings is not to replace something on the land, it is to effect a synthesis of elements that formulate a Living Environment.

2007-04-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

By Charlie Greenwood

http://treehouseengineering.com

Tree Mechanics:We take for granted the power and grace that so many trees exemplify. The more you learn about their behavior, and especially their adaptive capabilities, the more amazing they seem. Trees are one of the best examples of the simultaneous expression of Art and Engineering. Each species exhibits its own magnificence, and when they are grouped together, you have one of the most remarkable and least understood of nature's living creations: The Forest.A walk through the forest can profoundly effect your state of mind, to say nothing of your spinal alignment, all while curing your most stubborn case of sinusitis. Clearly, there is more going on here than we can understand using accepted scientific methodology.Marcel Vogel, who brought into the world many things including electroactive liquid crystals, once took philodendron plants that had been raised together and placed them on opposite sides of the United States and then stressed them by various methods. Instrumentation showed that by some mechanism each plant was able to react to the stress produced in the other, in real time, and thousands of miles apart. Similarly, G. C. Bose's experiments in auditoriums in India with hundreds of witnesses demonstrated real time growth and stress reactions in plants. This was at the dawn of the twentieth century. Experiments have been conducted using various wavelengths of light, sound waves, different types of audio programming, altered atmospheres and temperatures, and just about everything one could imagine. Living material nevertheless tries to propagate, grow, adapt to its conditions, and even thrive if the allowed. And all in real time.

2007-03-22T08:35:00.000-07:00

If you were thinking that the Banyan tree looks like the trees whose roots snake through the ruins of the Ta Prohm temple like tentacles of the jungle (Lara Croft, anyone?) at Ankor, Cambodia , you’d be right!
Banyan tree (or is it silk-cotton tree?) in the ruins of Ta Prohm, Ankor, Cambodia (Image Credit: Casual Chin [flickr])

Espalier pro in tennessee

2007-03-10T20:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.espaliertrees.com/rrf.html

I was honored to meet Peter Thevenot at my lecture in Nashville.

House plants ?

2007-03-10T16:06:00.000-08:00

Tomas Alonso's home green room system. Spain
see the PDF http://www.jdf.or.jp/eng/compe/pdf2005/816-e.pdf

from your table comes food for your trees

2007-03-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

A living ecosystem of worms, sowbugs and bacteria are invited to this table. They are a part of the digestive system that starts with a person discarding food leftovers and shredded paper into the portal at the top. The bacteria and sowbugs begin breaking down the waste and the worms soon join in to further digest it into a rich compost that sprinkles out of the bottom of the fabric bag that hangs beneath the table. This compost is used as a fertilizer for plants, such as those at the base of the table.
The human plays an important part at the table by eating, feeding the food waste to the worms, feeding the resulting fertilizer to the plants, or by simply sitting and appreciating the living ecosystem she/he is a part of. A cross-section of the activity inside the top 9 inches of the compost is made visible using an infrared security camera connected to an LCD screen built into the table. On the screen, viewers can see the live movements of the worms and sowbugs inside. http://accad.osu.edu/~ayoungs/digestive.html

From- http://works.music.columbia.edu/organism

From Marcel's web site

2007-02-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.sanftestrukturen.de/

Marcel Kalberer

2007-02-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3575/is_1259_211/ai_82556273

Aharon Navieh

2007-02-19T11:19:00.000-08:00

From Aharon Navieh

The tree is - Ficus Nitida. It is now entring
it`s seventh year.

http://www.geocities.com/aharonaveh22/index.htm

Sundance Channel

2007-02-19T11:14:00.000-08:00

The panel discussion filmed at Michael Sorkin Studio in New York will be featured on the Sundance Channel's "Big Ideas for a Small Planet." The episode is called " Build " and will air on April 24th at 9:00 pm

2nd printing

2007-02-15T21:09:00.000-08:00

A second printing is just days away .