Name: Urs Ziswiler, Ambassador of Switzerland to the United States
Location: Washington, DC
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: Contemporary, inspired by the snow-covered Swiss Alps. The outdoor space compliments the charcoal color concrete and sand-blasted translucent building exterior. The white sculpture tree is titled "air gets into everything even nothing" (2006) by artist Ugo Rondinone. Made from cast aluminum and white enamel, the sculpture is a cast of a 13-foot-high, thousand year-old tree in Southern Italy. The building has a green roof and is constructed according to environmentally-friendly “Swiss Minergie Standards.”How did you do it?: The design was a collaboration between architectural firms Rüssli Architekten (Lucern, Switzerland) and Steven Holl Architects (New York), who unanimously won a competition to design the residence in 2001. It was completed in 2006 but is constantly evolving. A recent addition is the white rock formations in the back outdoor space, which are lamps that light up at night.
Recommended store, site, product or resource? Anything Swiss!
(Images: Rachael Grad)
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looks like the white tree of gondor...
I'm lovehating the tree. On one hand, it's beautifully shaped; on the other, it's dead! Perhaps, like Gondor's, it is sacred.
eeeep. i find that rather creepy, to be honest. :-/
pseudodesigns and whytephoenix, that's exactly what I thought too! Shouldn't it have bloomed when Obama was coronat...I mean inaugurated?
ROFLMAO indeed, very true ...
It's a CAST of a tree, not a real tree (or, never was a real tree). It's art, celebrating a beautiful form found in nature.
And FYI- real dead trees are not at all bad. Many of them (called "snags") provide valuable habitat for wildlife. It's a shame so many think of them as an eyesore or "creepy".
Where's the dead tree love? :)
Starkly modern but not in a good way. The tree is very nice but the rest of the place needs work ~ no warmth ~ those ppl sitting around don't look particularly enthralled to be there either. Mr. Ambassador...tear down that wall!