Encercler
Encercler is part of the land art fair “A Ciel Ouvert 2016” which takes place in Riorges, France.
In a meadow, stands a big tree, not necessarily beautiful, but certainly not ugly. The first idea was to reveal this tree to the public, which has been here for ages without particularly drawing its attention.
We decided to encircle it with a big cylinder (18 meters wide and 3 meters tall) made out of corrugated steel. This cylinder acts as a real wall that no one can enter. By forbidding its access, we create a certain frustration for the public who now wants to get closer to the tree, to touch it.
The perfect metallic circle is the absolute opposite of the savage tree. This barriers seems to underline the tree which becomes the focusing point of the meadow. Once the fair over, people might want to approach it.
Also, the contrast between the tree and this man-built barrier made out of a material commonly used asks a few questions about the future of this meadow. What will it become if the city grows? Will there be a place for nature in the city?
As young architects, we are looking for other ways of showing the context. Facing this context, we want people to react.
Building at the landscape scale was one of our motto for this piece. Even if the budget was quite low, we wanted to conceive something big, something strong. That is also why we chose this cheap material.
