US architecture firm SO-IL has planted 130 living Arbor Vitae trees ad wrapped them with a hand-made nylon webbing in Columbus, Indiana, the installation has been installed in the gardens of the historic Bartholomew Court House within the scope of Exhibit Columbus, an annual exploration of architecture, art, design, and community that alternates between symposium and exhibition programming each year, and features the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.

As one of the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize recipients of the second edition of Exhibit Columbus, the firm took on the preservation effort at the Miller House and Garden and turned it into a temporary landmark for play in the city of Columbus, Indiana. 

The Arbor Vitae hedgerow at the Miller House and Garden is conceived as a modern icon of landscape and architecture. SO-IL developed a project to pay homage to Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen's property.

"While the glass walls of Saarinen’s Miller House disappear – erasing the boundary between inside and outside – the densely planted hedgerow on the perimeter defines a hard edge to the site between the streets and the private grounds of the Miller residence," said SO-IL.

When the installation, called Into the Hedge, is dissembled, the tress will be replanted in the Miller House garden. "It was an opportunity for a project to create a different and more engaging relationship with this modern icon," said the architects. 

Developed in partnership with the Miller House and Garden, SO-IL procured 130 living Arbor Vitae trees and placed them in a large hammock structure on the lawn of the Bartholomew County Courthouse.

After the exhibition the trees can be permanently planted in the garden, making a direct link between the installation’s original architectural inspiration and a contribution to the stewardship of one of Columbus, Indiana’s seven National Historic Landmarks. 

The over-sized hammock is made by hand with nylon webbing – its color is taken from the color palette Alexander Girard developed for the dining chairs at the Miller House.

Image © SO-IL

Through a partnership with Indianapolis’ People for Urban Progress, the net will go on to become a series of handbags and totes or even beach bags. 

For the other components of the installation simple off-the-shelf agricultural and construction materials were used to ensure that everything could have a life afterward.

Image © SO-IL

The gabions, mulch, limestone, and stakes that comprise the planters and central pathway will all be recycled into local infrastructure projects. Committed to taking a critical approach to preservation and material use, “Into the Hedge,” temporarily re-organizes the elements of local construction and landscape as well as recognizable modern architecture into a memorable experience and a new landmark.

All images © Hadley Fruits unless otherwise stated.

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