Arthur Wiechula

Arthur Wiechula (January 20, 1867 – 1941) was a German landscape engineer. His marriage to Lydia Lindnau, produced three children, Margarethe (1895), Max (1897) and Ernst (1900).[1]

19th century botanical sketch by Arthur Wiechula of inosculated branches

He received the German Royal State Inventor's Honor Cross. In 1926, he published Wachsende Häuser aus lebenden Bäumen entstehend [2] (Developing Houses from Living Trees) in German,[3][4] describing simple building techniques involves guiding and grafting live branches together; including a system of v-shaped lateral cuts used to bend and curve individual trunks and branches in the direction of a design, with reaction wood soon closing the wounds to hold the curve.[3]

He envisioned growing trees so that it constituted walls during growth, thereby enabling the use of young trees for building.[3] He never built a living home, but he grew a 394-foot (120 m) wall of Canadian poplars to help keep the snow off a section of train tracks.[4] His illustrated ideas have inspired many other artists to attempt to grow a house of trees.

See also
  • Tree shaping – Use of living trees to create structures and art
  • Topiary – Horticulture practice to shape trees and shrubs
  • Espalier – Pruning/tying branches to flat structure
  • Pleaching – Interwoven branches to form a hedge, fence or lattice
  • Bonsai – Japanese art of training plants to mimic miniature versions of large trees
  • Axel Erlandson – Farmer and Tree shaping artist
  • Christopher Cattle – British furniture designer and Tree shaping artist
  • Richard Reames – American artist, arborsculptor, nurseryman, writer and public speaker
  • Fab Tree Hab – Hypothetical Concept of ecological home design
  • Gilroy Gardens – Family amusement and nature park
  • Full Grown – Company that grows trees into furniture and sculpture

References
  1. Kirsch, Konstantin (1996), Naturbauten aus lebenden Geholzen (Nature House Building) (3 ed.), OLV, Organischer Landbau-Verl. Lau, p. 82, ISBN 978-3-922201-17-5
  2. Wiechula, Arthur (1926), Wachsende Häuser aus lebenden Bäumen entstehend (Developing Houses from Living Trees), Verl. Naturbau-Ges, p. 320
  3. "designboom: history of arborsculpture".
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