The Brandenburg Gate grew out of the ground to become a magnificent stand of living trees within the surrounding urban environment, to celebrate and reflect on Berlin’s original green landscape. Presented as a vignette of a day in the life of a tree, Urban Tree Project explores themes and questions relating to urban lifecycles, the impact of high density living on the natural environment, and the human need for green space.

Urban Tree Project was originally conceived as a project with the vision of turning iconic buildings around the world into trees. Debuted at Vivid Sydney in 2014, and reimagined for the Brandenburg Gate, Urban Tree Project Berlin is the realization of a dream for Ample Projects.

Like the inhabitants and vehicles of a large city, beetles, birds, bees and centipedes bravely emerge out of the tree, scurrying around, then vanishing again into the canopy. The tree’s creatures interact with their living home and each other, rhythmically and randomly over the course of a day. Night falls, the creatures remain, and like cars traversing the arteries of a big city at night, the tree is illuminated with glowing creatures and their pathways.

Creative Credits