If you were a tree, could you think of a better life than living with 2,000 other trees on the grounds of a 14th century Swiss monastery? Well, I have no idea what trees like, so maybe not — but if that sounds good to a tree, it is now possible. The Tree Museum, which opened this week outside of Zurich, is the creation of Swiss landscape architect Enzo Enea. Over the course of his 17 years as a landscape architect, Enea has had to excavate many trees, everything from English Yew to Taxus baccata, a conifer native to Southern and Western Europe that has cool little red berries. But rather than merely dispose of them, he created a collection, and this lovely museum was built to showcase it.
The museum building itself is a model of sustainability — it’s built with sustainably sourced local wood and has natural daylighting, efficient insulation, a green roof, and a geothermal heating and cooling system. If they had hands instead of branches, the trees outside would give it a thumbs up.
