New Unit of Measurement: Cubic Trees

Are you confused by the title? You should be. Today I went on a tour of (yet another) University of Stuttgart project: cubic trees. At least that's what was the little, slightly misinformed preconceived notion I had.

There were trees. And they together did form a cube. But that wasn't really the cool part. The cool part was that as the trees grew, they would grow into each other (due to carefully placed screws) and become one organism. Which is cool right? On top of that, supports for entire platform levels are also thrust between branches encouraging the trees to grow around them just the way cable companies in the US don't like branches to grow.

Eventually all these planter boxes will be removed

Since the tree growing around the metal pipes forms such a tight bond (It looks like the pipe is sticking through the middle of a single branch) the tree can serve as the supports for the structure. So when we all come back for our 20 year reunion in 2033, there will be a living structure that you can climb in that's all one tree. A whole different meaning to tree house.

The dates indicate when those pieces will be removed

Growing tree structures takes space, so instead of being on the university's campus, it was out in Nagold, a really pretty little town. In our bit of free time I discovered two of my favorite things: a bookstore (well.. you should know this about me by know hopefully.. I have book-dar) and a church. Not only a church though, a church in which an organist was practicing. (I love the way organs sound in large churches)

Eventually it'll grow over the top to provide shade

To top off an already wonderful day, we went as a group to our self-declared pub in the middle of the forest. We didn't even get lost this time! Better yet, on the way back I saw fireflies for the first time (that I remember at least). Watching them move over the hill underneath the trees was really magical. I really wanted to take a picture, but I think it's one of those things that just can't be expressed unless you're there to see it.