Hope Tree installation was envisioned by award-winning architecture firm, 24o Studio, led by Fumio Hirakawa and Marina Topunova (both graduates of SCI-Arc) as a spatial condition that attended to question our surrounding as we know it and hoping to generate a discussion and understanding amongst the visitors about the place of our everyday life, our environment. Lately, we are bombarded with products that try to deal with the consequences of environmental damages throughout the world, but occasionally we overlook the roots of these occurring problems by not fully understanding our environment.
A tree was chosen as a departing point as we universally can identify with. Throughout ages tree has been the most primitive form of a shelter, garden, and, most importantly, our companion. With human innovation and intervention, a tree has been contributing to our lives taking a different form, from a simple paper sheet to a complex house. Every fruit, flower and leaf that bears from tree symbolizes a change and hope for tomorrow. But, even a strong standing tree is frail. If not taken care properly we may eventually cease its presence. Hope Tree installation invites viewers to experience their surrounding environment anew through a single tree and a space that bears from it.
