Kitsch or art? Enrichment or waste? Since 2006, Hanover's busy Aegidientorplatz has featured the Aegidienforest: steel tree trunks with green windsock crowns, designed by students Stefanie Schmoll and Dominik Geilker. This once-green square lost its natural charm during traffic expansions and the construction of an elevated road in the 1960s. After the road’s demolition for EXPO 2000, the space remained barren. The Aegidienforest brought playful color and whimsy back to this traffic-heavy area. Seventeen years on, this creative blend of art and nature continues to enhance the cityscape, proving even an artificial forest can breathe life into an urban environment.
Kitsch or art? Wasted money or an enrichment for the city scape? Since 2006, the Aegidientorplatz, one of Hanover's busiest squares, has been home to the Aegidienforest: the tree trunks made of white spotted steel poles, the crowns green windsocks. The idea came about in a student project at the Landscape Architecture University of Hanover.The designers are Stefanie Schmoll and Dominik Geilker.
The Aegidientorplatz has always been characterised by high traffic loads. The constantly increasing traffic volumeled to the decision to move the tram underground and give more space to motor vehicle traffic. In order to ensure a smooth flow of traffic even during the construction of the underground, the Aegi was bridged with a steel construction at the end of the 1960s. This elevated road, originally intended as a temporary solution, was demolished in the run-up to EXPO 2000. During this measure, the last greenery disappeared from the centre.
With their design of an artificial forest, Stefanie Schmoll and Dominik Geilker have managed to bring joy and colour to an otherwise completely lost landscape traffic area. And 17 years after the completion of the project one can truly say that to enhance the urban space with an little different pice of nature is definitely an enrichment for the city scape.