from tree house to bauhaus
text: Nick Chadde bild: Ingolf Heinemann
from tree house to bauhaus THROUGH THE WINDOW OF YOUR CHILDHOOD REFUGE, YOU MIGHT SEE PATHS THAT YOU OTHERWISE WOULDN’T. SOMETIMES THE SMALLEST CONSTRUCTION CAN HAVE THE GREATEST IMPACT ON LIFE. BAUHAUS “There are two things children should receive from their parents: roots & wings.” I read those lines by Goethe on a postcard in a cafeteria in Weimar. During my first week as a student at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, the great poet appeared everywhere I went. The joy of a new beginning was mixed with great curiosity and respect for the history, but mostly I felt excitement about a new chapter in life. Dominated by the intensity and newness, the first three months of my studies passed by before I managed to learn my postal code by heart. ”From your tree house to the Bauhaus” my father said to me on the day of my enrollment ceremony, three days before my 21st birthday. Joyful, freeing moments. BAUMHAUS When my younger brother Max and I were old enough to hold a hammer, our father built a tree house together with us. “Understanding by experiencing” he explained while showing us how to hammer a nail without losing a finger. We built our tree house in the summer of 1994, and after completion it became the second home of our childhood. I remember how much I enjoyed spending time in a building that my brother and I had cre-ated. All these clear summer nights, when the transport planes with their big headlights were grumbling over our half
12
4 ARK – Känsla
asleep heads. We were too young to realize how important it was to learn that we are able to create something of our own. But
I am even pretty sure we broke three aspects of German lawn law, but the main generator of this tree house was the love of a father to his children. we definitely felt it. We were the ones who hammered the first nails. We were there when the main pillars got their fundament and we were there when the roofing felt was ready to be put up. We are carrying these memories with us. They’re a part of our childhood. It’s somehow magical how the creation of the tree house had the first architectural influence on me and how it’s still shining in this unique, Swedish faluröd. Whenever I didn’t want to be in my room, I went to my tree house instead. Building our own childhood refuge broke the act of creating something, down to a scale, that the mind of a child could grasp. Scale being adjusted to the imagination of a child, encouraged me and gave me faith in my own creativity. The beauty of my father’s design is
found in its simplicity. The lovely details have been great fun to me and my siblings for all these years and still are. The scale is the most important part. A five-year old doesn’t understand the dimensions of a building in total. A child doesn’t understand how things belong together and create wholeness. To see my tree house being built was most and for all a lecture in the act of creating, even though I didn’t realize the depth of that lesson until now. This building, if I could call it that, is not designed by any main rules. I am even pretty sure we broke three aspects of German lawn law, but the main generator of this tree house was the love of a father to his children. Form follows empathy. PRESENCE It’s springtime and I’m visiting my hometown. I’m standing in what will one day be the ruins of my childhood home. It feels like my body has outgrown the proportions of my tree house, but nevertheless my mind and heart are still strongly connected to it. My wings have grown. My roots stayed where they belong. Without my tree house, neither me nor my architecture would be what it is today. When I wonder how my feelings will change, I am certain about one thing: My tree house is my roots. My tree house is my wings. ■
4 ARK – Känsla
13