Hungarian architecture studio Hello Wood has developed an 11-metre-higher Christmas tree for a square in central Budapest from 15,000 kilograms of wooden logs (+ film).
Hello Wood’s brief was to develop a Christmas tree for the Budapest neighborhood. Their response, the Charity Tree, has a conical timber frame with sawn logs stacked perpendicular to its surface.
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At the leading, the wood lengths get longer and protrude out further to form a pinnacle crowned with a metal star.
A scattering of the circular sections are painted white to reference the ornaments that generally hang from the branches of traditional fir Christmas trees.
The structure was built and filled in more than five 24-hour operating days. Right after dark, it is illuminated using special lighting effects designed by Philips Hungary.
A doorway in the back makes it possible for members of the public to climb inside the tree and make use of seats formed from more logs, which are positioned around the edge.
“Inside the tree there is a chapel-like sacred inner space, where everybody can locate some silence to contemplate in the middle of the buzzing city,” stated the designers.
“The Charity Tree belongs to the people of Budapest till Epiphany. It can be visited in the course of day and evening.”
When the tree is dismantled on the Twelfth Night right after Christmas – the date decorations are traditionally taken down – the firewood will be given to families in want.
“The installation represents the value of the neighborhood and social awareness: not only due to the fact men and women traditionally collect about Christmas trees to celebrate with each other, but also simply because at Christmas, it is specifically essential to feel of the thousands of Hungarian families who have every day issues with heating during wintertime,” stated the designers.
Hello Wood worked in collaboration with Design and style Terminal – the Hungarian state agency responsible for the stimulation of the inventive industries – and the Hungarian Interchurch Aid.
The installation follows a equivalent project in 2013, when the architects built a Christmas tree made from 365 wooden sledges that had been provided to a neighborhood children’s charity following the festive period.
“The part of architecture has changed a lot in the final handful of years. After the [economic] crisis it has turn into much more important to develop operates which are for everybody, not only the exclusive one per cent of the population,” stated a spokesperson for the studio, which runs an international art camp every single summer.
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