text: Baubotanik is a building method in which architectural structures are created through the interaction of technical joints and plant growth.  The term entails the practice of designing and building living structures using living plants. In this regard, living and non-living elements are intertwined in such a way that they grow together into plant-technical composite structures.
  The Baubotanik method combines the aesthetic and ecological qualities of living trees with the static functions and structural requirements of buildings, thereby reducing the need for artificial building materials. The structures provide valuable habitats for a variety of animal species and make conventional foundations redundant, due to their root anchorage.
  The use of Baubotanik is not a new invention and can be found in various historical and cultural contexts, such as the Tanzlinden (“dancing lime”) tree in Germany and living root bridge in North-East India. Common in the Indian state of Meghalaya and grown by the Khasi and Jaintia, the bridges consist of the aerial roots of rubber fig trees (Ficus elastica) and are grown over rivers to form walkable bridges. While the process can take fifteen years to complete, the bridges can be reinforced with natural materials and can withstand the strongest tropical storms. Furthermore, since the turn of the millennium, ‘willow churches’ (made of willow rods and lacking a fixed roof) have been constructed on various former garden show grounds, yet provide only limited functionality as buildings.