Architecture Arboretum

Besler & Sons, LLC

Architecture Arboretum

Princeton University School of Architecture
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    Curatorial Design:
  1. Sylvia Lavin
    Exhibition Design:
  1. Erin Besler
    Graphic Design:
  1. Ian Besler
    Press Coverage:
  1. Archinect
  2. e-Flux Architecture
  3. The Architect’s Newspaper
    Exhibition Leads:
  1. Chase Galis
  2. Anna Renken
    Exhibition Coordinator:
  1. Kira McDonald
    Exhibition Assistants:
  1. Andrew Cornelis
  2. Melinda Denn
  3. Esra Durukan
  4. Angelique Firmalino
  5. Will Fu
  6. Reese Lewis
  7. Christina Moushoul
  8. Takayuki Tachibe
    Research Seminar Students:
  1. Catherine Ahn
  2. Shin Hang Chiu
  3. John Cooper
  4. Esra Durukan
  5. Sarah Sheereen Etaat
  6. Chase Galis
  7. Ruo Jia
  8. Rami Kanafani
  9. Jamie Lipson
  10. Joon Ma
  11. Mahsa Malek
  12. Ruta Misiunas
  13. Anna Renken
  14. Carly Richman
  15. Erik Tsurumaki
  16. Zherui Wang
  17. Kyle Weeks
  18. Ece Yetim
    Special Thanks to:
  1. Dean Mónica Ponce de León
  2. Carrie Ruddick
  3. Courtney Coffman
  4. Grey Wartinger
  5. School of Architecture Staff
  6. Rob Staudt and Campus Grounds
  7. Urban Fabric Rugs
  8. Owen Nichols

This exhibition is co-sponsored by the Humanities Council’s David A. Gardner ’69 Magic Project.

Curatorial text by Sylvia Lavin: Modern architectural drawings contain a remarkable array of trees made with extraordinary precision and invention not explained by the need to record a site or the desire to animate a view. Although typically overlooked, trees in architectural drawings constitute an undiscovered arboretum containing evidence of important conceptual shifts in architectural thinking. Architects have interpolated trees into drawings as linguistic signs, used them as objects of scientific observation, and eventually seized upon them as things to be designed. Architecture Arboretum, however, also offers an opportunity to consider the reverse: arboreal thinking about architecture and the active role trees have played in the production of architectural drawings. The once unthinkable notion that trees are beings with interests of their own that process data about the world through distinct forms of representation has radicalized contemporary understandings of the environment. Architecture has more to learn from plant thinking than most disciplines, not only because architecture and trees share important features—the capacity to define space, produce climates, and shape the visual field—but also because trees perform architectural tasks in ways that care for the earth’s surface better than most buildings.

Photographs courtesy Shark Senesac / Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture

Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Shark Senesac / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Shark Senesac / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture
Architecture Arboretum, 2019, Princeton University School of Architecture, Princeton, NJ
Photograph courtesy Michael Vahrenwald / Princeton University School of Architecture