9.10.2009

stomach in the trees

Finding shelter” is: living under an overhang, a rock. “Finding shelter” happens by chance: you’re walking – it’s raining, suddenly – you walk faster, you look around, there’s a rock, it was there all the time – you crawl in under out of the rain. “Finding shelter” is an act of adaptation; you take your hat off to nature, no “self” is asserted in nature’s face. “Making shelter” (as we know it in Western culture) is, by contrast, the act of taking over nature, placing something on top of nature. “Making shelter” is male. -Vito AcconciWouldn't be nice to live and eat in the trees? You can in Auckland, New Zealand at the the Yellow Tree House Restaurant by Pacific Environments Architects. 10m wide,over 12m high and 10m off the ground, this timber trussed structure is basically curved fins of glue-laminated pine. The roof is made of acrylic sheeting.