Flourishing ‘Patient Gardener’ Pavilion Made of Living, Growing Cherry Trees Pops Up in Milan!

This beautiful living, growing pavilion in Milan will be made entirely out of Japanese cherry trees, plants, and grass! <a href="http://www.visiondivision.com/">Swedish designers Visiondivision</a> recently led a one-week workshop at the <a href="http://www.polimi.it/">Politechnico di Milano</a>, where they laid the groundwork for the structure, which they call "The Patient Gardener." Illustrating the notion that slow building can reduce the need for carbon-intensive and expensive transportation and reduce construction waste, the team has manipulated 10 Japanese Cherry trees to "grow in a more architectonic way" so that in about 60 years, they will form the shape of an hourglass. Read on for a closer look!

Visiondivision is a Stockholm-based design studio

The designers were invited to lead a one week workshop at the Politecnico di Milano

In Milan, the designers and their students laid the groundwork for The Patient Gardener

This project is prefaced on the notion that slow architecture can reduce construction waste and the need to transport materials

They propose instead to help nature "grow in a more architectonic way."

Everything in the hourglass structure is made from trees, plants, and grass

A variety of techniques are used to manipulate 10 Japanese Cherry trees to grow in a certain way

Some of the techniques used include bending, twisting, pruning, grafting, braiding, and weaving

Here the team prepares the cheery trees

By adjusting how much water is used and how light hits the project, they can control how the trees grow

10 Trees were used in all

6 of the trees were arranged in a circle with an 8 meter diameter

The remaining 4 trees will form two pairs of stairs

A temporary 6 meter wooden tower is helping to guide how the trees grow

When the Japanese Cherry trees blossom, so will The Patient Gardener

Visiondivision expects the structure to be fully complete in 60 years!