29.07.2019 Duy Mac

Heart of the trees: Xylem Pavilion by Kéré Architecture

Francis Kéré-designed Xylem at Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, 2019. Image courtesy of Tippet Rise/Iwan Baan. Photo by Iwan Baan.

As a place of contemplation and peace, the wooden pavilion by Kéré Architecture at Tippet Rise Art Center invites visitors to access the heart of trees. This is appropriate, as 'Xylem', the name of the pavilion, refers to the woody conducting tissue responsible in vascular plants for the internal transportation of water and nutrients.

Fashioned out of sustainable pine wood, the 'Xylem' Pavilion is positioned in a slightly sunken landform between the main facilities of the art centre and a clearing surrounded by aspen trees. The roof, supported by seven steel columns, comes in an undulating shape resulting from circular bundles of logs held by a modular hexagonal structure of weathering steel.

Kéré Architecture's 'Xylem' Pavilion refers not only to the traditional "toguna" shelters of the West African Dogon ethnic group but also to a project in Burkina Faso that the architectural office was also working on at the time: completion of the Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School in Gando, Francis Kéré's birthplace. Dedicated to Francis Kéré's father, the school is open to the children of the neighbouring area in the Burkinabè savannah.

Francis Kéré-designed Xylem at Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, 2019. Image courtesy of Tippet Rise/Iwan Baan. Photo by Iwan Baan.: Iwan Baan

Francis Kéré-designed Xylem at Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, 2019. Image courtesy of Tippet Rise/Iwan Baan. Photo by Iwan Baan.