The Stockholm-based studio UMA built temporary installations to experiment with materials that people can collect from nature. Following its original series of cottages made of mushrooms, spruce cones and snowballs, now architects use leaves to capture their bright colors and mark the end of the season. A small house made of tens of thousands of leaves celebrates autumn and reflects the beauty of the short life.
Towards the end of autumn, the trees dropped colorful leaves. This paper-thin material was used to cover the ground below, forming luminous shadows under and around the trees. As the architect ulf Mejergren mentioned, fallen leaves are related to the end of the season, “when the outdoor furniture in the garden is stored for the winter”.
Among the furniture, the trampoline in the yard is also ready for winter storage. By removing its jumping pad and safety net, it maintains a bare steel frame. So there was an idea for a new hut structure. As explained by UMA (find more information here), the outer mesh is wrapped around the bare frame of the trampoline using springs at the same distance from the jumping mat. The structure also uses the same technique to obtain an inner grid to form a wall system. An entrance was cut off and a ceiling was added. At the same time, a convenient integrated small ladder is located in front of the opening.
Schematic diagram of how the leaf hut is made
Once they have made the skeleton, the next step is to fill the wall with fallen leaves. The team tried to collect most of the maple leaves, which are large and colorful, even though they often lose color and turn brown after being placed on the ground for a period of time. "We waited until the first storm in autumn, so the leaves we were picking would be as fresh and dry as possible, and then we used a rake from one tree to another to collect a bag of leaves, and we filled the whole with it. structure."
The studio collects the leaves into parts and then fills the gaps between the grids. In addition, in order to make the body stronger, they also used a ladder to throw some leaves from above. By doing this, a leaf island is formed around the cottage, making it stand out from the original green terrain. Finally, they separated the most dazzling yellow leaves to decorate and highlight the entrance of the structure.
The entrance is highlighted by bright leaves
Name: leaf hut architect: ulf mejergren architects (UMA)
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Editor: christina petridou | design boom
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