Visual
2022
THE STORY OF A SINGLE TREE
An Urban Tree in Boston
THE STORY OF A SINGLE TREE
An Urban Tree in Boston
Cambridge, MA • Massachusetts Instite of Technology • Supervisor: Mohamad Nahleh
In the process of cultivating trees and planting them along streets,
cities were naturalized and trees were urbanized.”
- Sonja Dümpelmann
In the farming, consumption, and domestication of trees, they have been organized and engineered to accommodate our needs. In the built environment, natural matter is being commodified at unprecedented rates: we grow standardised tree species designed to withstand unnatural environmental conditions, in order to create a collective—yet formally separated—pattern of trees. In the architectural practice, designers often incorporate a collection of trees into their digital worlds without much consideration or acknowledgement for each individual tree as a species that has particular needs. Our lack of practice of care toward the individual tree is intrinsically tied to our lack of understanding of how it operates. The Story of a Single Tree seeks to challenge current societal and cultural perspectives of a tree ftor consumers. This is the story of tree #7,784, located at 251 Marlborough Street in Boston, MA. The story is told through two lenses: current modes, and alternate ways to understand and interact with it. Each lens will examine the following three themes: (i) temporality (ii) physicality (iii) value.“
cities were naturalized and trees were urbanized.”
- Sonja Dümpelmann
In the farming, consumption, and domestication of trees, they have been organized and engineered to accommodate our needs. In the built environment, natural matter is being commodified at unprecedented rates: we grow standardised tree species designed to withstand unnatural environmental conditions, in order to create a collective—yet formally separated—pattern of trees. In the architectural practice, designers often incorporate a collection of trees into their digital worlds without much consideration or acknowledgement for each individual tree as a species that has particular needs. Our lack of practice of care toward the individual tree is intrinsically tied to our lack of understanding of how it operates. The Story of a Single Tree seeks to challenge current societal and cultural perspectives of a tree ftor consumers. This is the story of tree #7,784, located at 251 Marlborough Street in Boston, MA. The story is told through two lenses: current modes, and alternate ways to understand and interact with it. Each lens will examine the following three themes: (i) temporality (ii) physicality (iii) value.“
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- Exhibited at MIT Architecture HQ Gallery
- “Cartographies of Entanglement: Across the Scales and Timescales of Contemporary Urbanism”