#1706
THE ORCHARD
Location:
MALMÖ
Type:
EXHIBITION
Status:
COMPLETED
Client:
FORM/DESIGN CENTRE
Twelve Scandinavian architecture practices were invited to contribute to the exhibition Commoning Kits, initiated by Kjellander Sjöberg, at Form/Design Center in Malmö. Each practice was to imagine new public spaces centered around a specific theme, on a specific site in the Sege Park area just outside Malmö. For this proposal, the site is an old apple orchard and the theme “religion”.
The intention was to capture a universal sense of spirituality, not particular to any religion. After initial research into the Garden of Eden and the Court of Oranges of the Córdoba Mosque, the idea of a levitating orchard came to mind. The proposal was exhibited with a short story:
“The morning that the apple orchard slowly rose to the sky, no one believed their eyes. The child, the scientist, the artist, and the idiot all failed to explain what had happened. And although it began as something frightening, almost unbearable, the orchard eventually came to spread a sense of calm that was difficult to comprehend. A sense of security. Perhaps because failing to understand was something they did together.
Earlier, when the orchard was still attached to the ground, it had been a popular spot for the locals. People made excursions there, spent entire days in the shade of its trees, ate apples and played in the grass. Some had named it Paradise. Now, floating above the ground, it had become even more divine.
In the beginning, the orchard remained at a constant height. After a while, however, it started to slowly move up and down. Different spaces came to emerge between the orchard and the ground, each with a character of its own. The people were initially suspicious, but in time they began to carefully approach the spaces. With increasing confidence, they determined what they could be and how they could be used.
Although the orchard had been popular before it rose to the sky, only a few seem to miss it. A shrinking group of people remembers it, and from the ground it cannot be grasped. Only the still orderly rows of apple trees give it away. Some are surprised by the fact that the orchard’s trees and grass do not grow. They wonder if nature no longer needs to be tamed.
The majority, however, think about the space, or rather the many spaces, underneath the orchard. Judging from its movements, it appears to almost understand people’s needs and deepest desires. Sometimes, it creates low spaces for intimate encounters. At other times, vast, open spaces reminiscent of the infinite. Or the unattainable.”
The intention was to capture a universal sense of spirituality, not particular to any religion. After initial research into the Garden of Eden and the Court of Oranges of the Córdoba Mosque, the idea of a levitating orchard came to mind. The proposal was exhibited with a short story:
“The morning that the apple orchard slowly rose to the sky, no one believed their eyes. The child, the scientist, the artist, and the idiot all failed to explain what had happened. And although it began as something frightening, almost unbearable, the orchard eventually came to spread a sense of calm that was difficult to comprehend. A sense of security. Perhaps because failing to understand was something they did together.
Earlier, when the orchard was still attached to the ground, it had been a popular spot for the locals. People made excursions there, spent entire days in the shade of its trees, ate apples and played in the grass. Some had named it Paradise. Now, floating above the ground, it had become even more divine.
In the beginning, the orchard remained at a constant height. After a while, however, it started to slowly move up and down. Different spaces came to emerge between the orchard and the ground, each with a character of its own. The people were initially suspicious, but in time they began to carefully approach the spaces. With increasing confidence, they determined what they could be and how they could be used.
Although the orchard had been popular before it rose to the sky, only a few seem to miss it. A shrinking group of people remembers it, and from the ground it cannot be grasped. Only the still orderly rows of apple trees give it away. Some are surprised by the fact that the orchard’s trees and grass do not grow. They wonder if nature no longer needs to be tamed.
The majority, however, think about the space, or rather the many spaces, underneath the orchard. Judging from its movements, it appears to almost understand people’s needs and deepest desires. Sometimes, it creates low spaces for intimate encounters. At other times, vast, open spaces reminiscent of the infinite. Or the unattainable.”