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May 22, 2012, 09:47:15 PM
Funfani.com - Spreading Fun All Over!IMAGE CORNERWallpapers/Cool ImagesArchitectureFascinating Living Growing Architecture
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Rhea Thomas
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« on: September 30, 2009, 06:26:23 AM »
Still-living plants can themselves be shaped into bridges, tables, ladders, chairs, sculptures - even buildings. Known variously as botanical architecture, tree sculpture, tree-shaping, tree-grafting, pooktre, arborsculpture, and arbortecture, the craft is, essentially, construction with living plants.

Includes pictures from the root bridges of India to living islands!

1. Root Bridges of India

In the depths of northeastern India, in one of the wettest places on earth, bridges aren't built -- they're grown.

« Last Edit: October 19, 2009, 02:09:12 AM by Ryan Martis » Report to moderator   Logged
Rhea Thomas
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« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2009, 06:26:36 AM »

(images credit: Vanlal Tochhawng)
« Last Edit: October 19, 2009, 02:09:33 AM by Ryan Martis » Report to moderator   Logged
Rhea Thomas
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« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2009, 06:26:54 AM »
Grown from the roots of a rubber tree, the Khasis people of Cherapunjee use betel-tree trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create "root-guidance systems." When they reach the other side of the river, they're allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time a sturdy, living bridge is produced.

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Rhea Thomas
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« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2009, 06:27:07 AM »
The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they're extraordinarily strong. Some can support the weight of 50 or more people at once.

One of the most unique root structures of Cherrapunjee is known as the "Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge." It consists of two bridges stacked one over the other!


(images credit: Marcus Fornell, Jim Ratcliffe)
« Last Edit: October 19, 2009, 02:10:01 AM by Ryan Martis » Report to moderator   Logged
Rhea Thomas
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« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2009, 06:27:28 AM »


Because the bridges are alive and still growing, they actually gain strength over time, and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunjee may be well over 500 years old.
« Last Edit: October 19, 2009, 02:10:13 AM by Ryan Martis » Report to moderator   Logged
Rhea Thomas
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« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2009, 06:27:41 AM »

(image credit: Marcus Fornell)

But these are not the only bridges built from growing plants. Japan too, has its own form of living bridges.
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