The Green Station

Artist Gloria Friedmann has installed the basic form of a house in the woods. It has three walls and a pitched roof with circular openings so that trees can continue to grow through it unhindered. The one gable wall that remains open makes the windowless green structure look more like a shelter than a home and the unobstructed view of the interior confirms that it is not a house, but rather a sculpture of a house. Even the rudimentary “facilities” – limited to four wooden blocks – show that basic human needs are being placed in relation to the surrounding nature. The hut offers hikers “a roof over their heads” and little more. At the same time, it provides the opportunity to experience and reflect on man’s relationship to nature.
The artist, whose work focuses on humanity’s cultural interconnectedness with nature, has already created multiple shelters and observation spaces in different natural areas. For the Waldskulpturenweg, she had also initially planned a temporary usable hostel in the middle of the forest and then developed the idea of a forest library; however, since 2005, she has focused on the idea of The Green Station, a shelter and resting place for hikers that can also become a place of thought.

Reference: www.waldskulpturenweg.de/skulpturen/die-gruenstation/die-skulptur/