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Green World · Living buildings

Great tree hall

Real-world idea: grown architecture

An imagined hall grown from a living tree. In the real world, people already shape living roots and trunks into bridges and buildings.

Imagined as
A meeting hall grown, not built
Real-world idea
Living architecture
Real example
Living root bridges, Meghalaya, India
Status
Small structures exist; whole halls are imagined

Find it on the map

Imagined What it could do

Imagine a hall whose walls are a living trunk and whose roof is a canopy of leaves. It would grow stronger every year, repair its own bark, shade its visitors in summer and let in light in winter as leaves fall. Instead of being knocked down at the end of its life, it would simply keep living.

A living root bridge in Meghalaya, India, grown from the aerial roots of rubber fig trees. Photo: Joydeep Chakraborty, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Real world Living root bridges

In the hills of Meghalaya in north-east India, Khasi and Jaintia communities have for generations guided the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastica) across streams. Over many years the roots thicken and fuse into bridges strong enough to walk on, some with two levels. These "living root bridges" can last for centuries and get stronger as they age. In 2022 they were added to UNESCO's tentative list for World Heritage status.

The famous double-decker living root bridge near Nongriat village, Meghalaya. Photo: PJeganathan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bible The Maker of every tree

The Bible says that God made the world through his Son, Jesus: "For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… All things were created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:16–17).

A "plane tree cube" in Germany: a Baubotanik structure where living plane trees are grown and grafted into a building frame. Photo: Nicolás Boullosa from Paris, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Real world Building with trees today

Architects and scientists are exploring "Baubotanik", a German word for building with living plants. Young trees are planted in a frame and grafted together so that, as they grow, they become a living structure such as a footbridge or tower. The challenges are time (decades), predicting how trees grow, and keeping them healthy.

Art In this artwork

This illustration shows a hall rising out of a giant tree, with glowing windows and a stairway. It is fantasy, but the idea echoes real living architecture.

Look closer

  • Find where the building and the tree trunk become one.
  • Notice the roots spreading at the base.

Think about it

  1. Would you trust a bridge made of living roots? What would make you feel safe?
  2. What are the advantages of a building that grows? What are the problems?
  3. Why might it be worth waiting decades for a structure to grow?

Key words

Living architecture
Structures made partly from living plants.
Grafting
Joining parts of plants so they grow together.
Aerial root
A root that grows above the ground.

Use it in class

Sources

The real-world facts on this page are based on these sources:

  • UNESCO World Heritage Centre, tentative list: "Jingkieng Jri: Living Root Bridge Cultural Landscapes" (2022)
  • Ferdinand Ludwig and colleagues, research on Baubotanik (building with living trees)
  • Janine Benyus, "Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature" (1997)
  • The Bible, Letter to the Colossians

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