2020

öffentlich zugänglich

Grundschule Grandlstraße 5, 81247 München

Außenskulptur mit drei Bäumen aus Aluminiumguss, die eine Kuppel mit Blattformen aus patiniertem Kupferblech tragen.

Architecture: Auer Weber Architekten, München

Landscape architecture: Keller Damm Kollegen GmbH Landschaftsarchitekten Stadtplaner, München

Photos: Peter Schinzler

Text: Roberta de Righi

Why is nature beautiful? Because we perceive and interpret order and patterns in it, thinks the Munich-based artist Florian Froese-Peeck. That is why his public art at the School Center on Grandlstrasse mimics the aesthetics of nature.

For the open courtyard facing the street in between the old and new buildings, he designed a sculpture, around seven meters tall, whose three, slim, round, aluminum supports are like the trunks of birch trees, tentatively branching out toward the sky to uphold a small onion dome made of steel and stamped ODER embossed[AM1]  copper sheets.

Froese-Peeck calls this elongated, open pavilion A House for You. Its location in the open space among real trees and a wooden seating platform does not allow its function to be immediately identified, yet it appears both sensible and functional at the same time: this amazing piece is the ideal meeting place, and it stands out without looking like it does not fit into the scenery.

Here, the artist is playing with the difference between “made” and “became.” While the three supports mimic tree trunks, the dome appears to be covered with foliage: the green, patinated copper sheeting is cut out in the shapes of maple, beech, oak, and linden leaves. Froese-Peeck presents a charming conundrum involving architecture and nature, organic form and inorganic material.

On the other hand, there are also echoes of various traditions: while the slim, tall columns are reminiscent of the support structure of Gothic pillars, the onion roof corresponds effectively with the tower of the Leiden-Christi-Kirche [Passion of Christ Church] opposite. Situated as it is directly on the green axis in between Nymphenburg and Blutenburg, it creates a reference to both the baroque castle and the medieval summer palace. Yet, even though the copper dome seems to have fallen out of time, the glistening tree trunks of Florian Froese-Peeck’s work of art position it in the present day.

This pavilion is a fascinating double entity that brings a touch of Hogwarts to the elementary school. A House for You, however, offers magical schoolchildren more than just an airy roof over their heads during break. Here, both one’s eye and one’s thoughts are free to roam.