year: 2011
client: Anykščių Regioninis Parkas
site: Anykščiai Forest (LT)
commission type: competition entry
team: Marc van Asseldonk, Auguste van Oppen, Jurgis Dagelis

Despite its relative youth, Anykščiai Forest is deeply rooted in Lithuanian culture. Converging onto this single forest in Northeastern Lithuania, a boulder, a sculpture and a poem are heavily laden with natural history and cultural identity. To design a tree walk with observation tower in this rich context proved to be a precarious task. The risk was very real that any augmentation of the forest would turn it into a fairground, leading to the bankruptcy of its cultural and historical context. Due to this sensitivity, a concept has been chosen which is flexible in its elaboration without lapsing into meaninglessness. Neither the architectural representation, its functionality nor its finances formed the point of departure. Rather, the perception of the forest and the cultural component form the central theme.

For more than 150 years, the poem "The Forest of Anykščiai" by Antanas Baranauskas has tied the physical world of the forest and a superimposed cultural meaning together. The experience in Baranasukas' poem is given a physical representation by using it as a script for the architecture. Literature forms the conceptual backbone for a facilitating architecture, guiding and playing with the visitors' perception. This point of departure has not led to an architecture for viewing, but rather to an architecture which helps you see. Using the language of simple and cheap every-day objects such as high-voltage pylons and cranes, an anonymous and transparent architecture is created devoid of any meaning or identity. The beauty and cultural meaning of the forest are placed on centre stage and form the protagonist; the path and tower only describe a poetic line, going up in the forest and guiding the visitors' experience.

In analogy with the first half of the poem, the Tree Walk guides visitors through various stages of consciousness. Using topographic relief and the characteristics of different forest types, the poetic line brings the visitor to a state of ecstasy. As soon as the tree walk meets the tower, the perception of the physical forest makes way for the conceptual forest to explain Baranauskas' ever-timely agenda. The introduction of programme and a visual transformation of the forest provoke an active mental relationship with the forest and offer moments for thought, debate and reflection.

Baranasukas' lessons on sustainability have surpassed the conceptual level in the design by practically implementing them. The info-centre's programme has subsequently been seasonally divided, preventing the unnecessary heating of space in a time when there are much fewer visitors. In addition, the tower has been placed on an open spot in the forest and along an existing road, preventing any unnecessary damage to the forest during its construction.

Despite the fact that the poem was written more than 150 years ago, both the message Baranauskas delivers and the style he deployed to do so are still very timely. In the face of current economic and ecological crises, he even seems to predict the struggles we are faced with today. The global debate on sustainability also employs similar communicative techniques. Pride and love are aroused through displaying nature's mythological beauty, fear is created by forecasting apocalypse, hope is instilled when describing sustainable utopia. The poem and Tree Walk thus lend themselves perfectly for a whole range of expositions and events focusing on the relationships between humans, society and nature.

Anykščiai Forest is both beautiful and charged with a significant cultural and historical meaning. By using Antanas Baranasukas' "The Forest of Anykščiai " as a script for the visitors' experience, the past and the present have been sewn together. As the meaning of Baranasukas' poem does not change with a typeface, this architectural concept does not change with its elaboration. Refraining from excessive architectural statements creates a flexibility in physical manifestation and eventual use, allowing an affordable, substantial and relevant cultural layer to be added to Anykščiai Forest.