Decaying Books in Quebec’s Jardin de la Connaissance Sprout Mushrooms and Moss

With so many millions of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/amazeme-book-labyrinth-completed-for-the-london-2012-cultural-olympiad/">books lying around the planet</a>, it's no surprise that artists and designers like Thilo Folkerts of <a href="http://www.100land.de">100 Landschaftsarchitektur</a> and <a href="http://www.sparwasserhq.de/Index/HTMLja06/rodcv.htm">Rodney LaTourelle</a> from Canada have been using them as materials in creative projects. In 2010, the pair constructed the Jardin de la Connaissance in Quebec using hundreds of books stacked to make walls and benches that will eventually become absorbed by the surrounding forest. Two years on and giant mushrooms are starting to sprout from the decaying books.

Some of the mushrooms appeared on their own and some have been cultivated

The Jardin de la Connaissance installation is designed to allow nature to reclaim the books

The book garden was first built in 2010

The books have been stacked into walls, seating and even laid as carpet

This year the creative minds behind the project have applied moss graffiti to help speed up the decaying process

A close up of the decaying books

After two years, the books are beginning to show signs of returning to the earth

This is a highly experimental project

Hundreds of books were used to build the installation in 2010

This viewpoint shows the project's ambitious scale

This sketch demonstrates how Folkerts and LaTourelle hope the project will eventually look