The Auerworld Palace was erected in the spring of 1998 by 300 volunteers from all over the world, directed by Swiss-born architect Marcel Kalberer and assisted by builders and artists of the building group Sanfte Strukturen, who guided the construction process. He is one of many architects who provide ecological aspect and sustainable development in his design. The way it was planted expresses the potential energies that can be mobilized in a community-oriented natural building process.

Three-to-five-year-old willows, the only construction material used, were planted, bound and interwoven into a large dome building. The young trees will continue to grow and will eventually fill in the gaps, covering the structure with leaves and creating a sheltered interior. The pattern of trunks resembles a rough vaulted arch structure, creating a bizarre overlapping of the natural and the highly designed. Kalberer works in building on nature’s own terms, observing its laws and forms of growth.

Rural building is familiar with the traditional brushwood or pole fence. Bush has through the ages been used in building cabins, and the builders undoubtedly made occasional use of growing trees. In Kalberer’s model, the planned planting of annually managed and trimmed growing wood opens new vistas for traditional practices. Resulting structure is truly ecological design, and final disposal of the building is simplicity itself: when it no longer pleases, it can easily be composted. It is a reminder of the drastic and precise control over nature which is traditionally exerted in French garden design.

The construction process was a social event, achieved through community effort, and the Auerworld Palace building has become a center for public celebrations such as full moon festivities, as well as a welcome tourist attraction in the sleepy countryside between Weimar and Naumburg. Kalberer’s design is a living willow cabin lends itself equally to use as car port or summer house or children’s playhouse. Building a growing cabin is undoubtedly a lot of fun, and success is almost guaranteed. The result is an effective union of form and matter which lives with the seasons; the building grows in time and space. The modern-day follies of Marcel Kalberer erected in parks on the occasion of commemorative events have rapidly become very popular tourist attractions.

[Show as slideshow]