Unlimited Urban Woods

Image: Unlimited Urban Woods, photo by Pieter Kers, via Hedwig Heinsman of DUS

If only urban aforestation was as straightforward as the Unlimited Urban Woods pavilion by DUS Architects Amsterdam!  The "never-ending forest in the middle of town" was created with one tree in a 4-meter high pavilion of mirrored interior walls.   The pavilion was displayed in front of the New Amsterdam Public Library from May 28 to June 28, 2010.

Image: Unlimited Urban Woods, photo by Pieter Kers, via Hedwig Heinsman of DUS

I can imagine urban woods pavilions in places that currently lack the infrastructure to support extensive tree cover.  While they might not fulfill ecosystem service goals, these "never ending forest[s]" could relieve "directed attention fatigue" and elicit wonderment.

DUS describes itself as

a young and ambitious architecture office that works according to the slogan: “design by doing”. DUS often builds scale 1:1 models in the public domain which function as site-analysis, design test case and social condenser. Architecture built from daily recognizable objects with minimal budget, but with maximal social value. Some interventions appear only one night, but remain eternal worth in the collective memory of the visitor.

Other works by the firm include Bamboo City Building Workshop (September 2010), Urban Plan Starter-Houses on Soccer Field (2007), and Interactive Space of Inner Bicycle Tubes (2001).

Image: Unlimited Urban Woods, photo by Pieter Kers, via Hedwig Heinsman of DUS

Thank you to Hedwig Heinsman for permission to use photographs by Pieter Kers.  And hat tip to WebEcoist.