‘Trees. Time. Architecture’ is a tribute to trees and forests, their cultural significance, their role in climate change and their potential for architecture and landscape architecture. The exhibition at the Architekturmuseum der TU München runs until 14 September 2025 – catalogue by Park Books.
Living bridge of the Khasi People,India, © TUM, photo: Ferdinand Ludwig, 2019
When trees come to the museum
Even in the famous etching of the original hut on the frontispiece to Marc-Antoine Laugier's ‘Essay sur l’ architecture’ from 1753, trees arch up to form a house. For centuries, they have provided shelter and living space. The exhibition ‘Trees Time Architecture’ at the Architecture Museum of the Technical University of Munich in the Pinakothek der Moderne is like a cultural history of trees - with individual selected stations, specific examples and a selection of astonishing facts. The curators Ferdinand Ludwig and Kristina Pujkilovic from the Chair of Green Technologies in Landscape Architecture at the Technical University of Munich have compiled them and brought them to the museum. So now trees are coming to the museum - it's high time! There have been trees on earth for a good 300 million years, the largest of which is in the Redwood National Park in California and is around 115 metres tall - taller than the Frauenkirche in Munich!
Arbor Kitchen, Neue Kunst am Ried, Germany, 2022 © TUM, photo: Kristina Pujkilovic
When trees become architecture
In urban areas, trees are probably more urgent than ever before. They guarantee shade during increasing heat waves and have a significant influence on temperature conditions in urban areas. However, the exhibition does not focus on this political issue, it only touches on it. It wants to emphasise much more: the principles, historical developments, the cultural history of trees. It shows three different examples of how trees can be turned into organic architecture, such as the living root bridges in Meghalaya, or how trees can be used in construction. The axis of time is omnipresent and is exhibited in films, diagrams, drawings and digital tools. All of this is summarised in the book 128 and there is a QR code on which all the exhibition contributions can be accessed and the content can be explored in greater depth.
Transplantation of an old tree for a park in Georgia. Video still from the film “Taming the Garden” by Salomé Jashi. © Mira Film / Corso Film / Sakdoc Film, 2021
Trees and time
‘Taming the Garden’ is the name of the impressive film by Georgian Salomé Jashi - it tells the story of an old oak tree that is uprooted and shipped across the Black Sea on a low-loader. Former multi-billionaire and Prime Minister of Georgia Bidzina Ivanishvili has taken a total of 200 such trees from private gardens and public parks - to plant them in his private park and buy himself some time.
Close-up of a Baubotanik fusion. © Foto: Cira Moro, 2010
Trees as a reader
The exhibition is a start on this topic, and it raises many topical issues that are still far from being resolved and need to be discussed at a global political level. strobo B.M. has designed the exhibition catalogue, which is well worth reading, clearly and meticulously - a brochure with a fine Swiss brochure and a clear typeface on soft paper. The book is definitely worth it!
Text: Sandra Hofmeister
„Trees. Time. Architecture. Design in Constant Transformation“, ed. by Andjelka Badnjar Gojnić, Kristina Pujkilović, Ferdinand Ludwig, Andres Lepik, 23 x 32 cm, 128 pages, 93 coloured and 36 b/w-illustrations, Park Books, Zürich 2024, ISBN 978-3-03860-431-0
