Commissioned for the "Wonderland: Curious Nature" Exhibition
Homegrown is a unique garden pavilion created for the New York Botanical Gardens' "Wonderland: Curious Nature" exhibition, which explores the fantastical world of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This installation will be on display from May 18 to October 27, 2024.
Inspired by the magical moments in Carroll's story, the pavilion features bricks grown from mycelium, the root structure of mushrooms. This choice reflects the scene where Alice consumes a mushroom and grows rapidly, evoking a whimsical transformation as she outgrows the White Rabbit's cottage.
The pavilion's enchanting design, engineered by Arup, explores themes of domesticity, familiarity, and surprise. It juxtaposes a quaint, aged timber cottage frame, scaled down to create an intimate setting, with unexpected organic walls made from full-sized mycelium bricks. Doors and windows salvaged from local homes in New York further enhance its feeling of the familiar within the pavilion’s setting.
The roof and walls are arranged in perforated patterns, allowing visitors to catch glimpses of the surrounding gardens. These elements create a psychedelic effect, reminiscent of the story’s themes and the psychotropic effects associated with mushrooms. The amorphous form of the pavilion seems both supportive and ready to break free, embodying the tension and otherworldliness of the narrative.
Our aim is to inspire curiosity and wonder in visitors as they learn about mycelium and its relationship to mushrooms. We invite them to imagine the potential of growing a house from this remarkable material. As they explore, visitors may feel like Alice herself, wandering into a small house within a vast garden, with dizzying views as they follow the flowing, dancing bricks around them.
At the end of its display, the pavilion will be dismantled. The mycelium bricks will be composted, and the timber will be reused, ensuring that this temporary design remains sustainable and environmentally friendly.
