We're building a tree house in Wedding and we are looking for more collaborators and supporters... (designers of all types, artists, programmers, hand workers, active people who want to make a diference)

What is this project all about?

Our idea is to help build a better world locally by creating an experimental space to shift the borders of how people think of and use public spaces. One could think of das Baumhaus as an active laboratory to support the development of an urban culture which is both environmentally and socially sustainable. We thought: wouldn't it be great if there were more places to go where the main idea, culture and expectation is based on meeting new people to have good conversations with, finding common ground and engaging in collaborative efforts to make the world a better place. That's when we started developing a strategy to build a place in a special symbolic way that would make it functional, inspiring, groovy and fun...

So now it's about building a tree house around a big structural column in the middle of a dramatic 140m2 (1500ft2) space with high ceilings and transforming it into an inspiring and fantasy-like public space. Why a tree house? It's a cozy place built together by the people of the neighborhood where they can meet, play, imagine and create; a concept familiar to people from many cultures. In our case, it's local artists and neighbors working together along with international collaborators to build the space, everyone contributing what they love to do. It's all about coming together to develop collaborative installations of ideas, art and design.

Building das Baumhaus will create an evolving functional artwork open to the public for years to come, a living sustainable symbol of "people creating the world they want to live in". The space will be built in an organic design style influenced by each collaborator's individual art, ideas and sensibilities - the specific design details of the space will differ from the 3D model. A decent visualization might be to imagine what a space would look like if it were a combination of elements from Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lord of the Rings and Avatar all in one, inspired by aesthetics found in nature.

Check out what we have done so far...
http://www.baumhausberlin.de/

...and our 3-d animation of the space (we are in the process of redesigning the space so the toilets are in the cellar and the back room is more open):
http://www.baumhausberlin.de/about/animation/

Once das Baumhaus is built, it will be part meeting point, part public think tank, part playground and host events like workshops, art openings, concerts, language exchanges, cooking nights and collaborative projects of all sorts. We'll finance running the space with an onsite cafe that sells drinks, healthy vegetarian and vegan food, also by selling design services for sustainable solutions, artworks and other sustainable products including those developed by our collaborative partners.

Check out our crowd funding page at http://www.startnext.de/en/baumhaus to see our project explanation film and text.  Our crowd funding campaign ends 12.14.12 so we will be very active before then; you're invited to join in!

http://soundcloud.com/michael-56/interview-scott-bolden-fluxfm

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Scott Bolden