ulf mejergren contorts forests into playgrounds & labyrinths using AI

ulf mejergren visualizes surreal tree installations

From his Pine Bark Hut to his concert space inside a tree trunk, Ulf Mejergren has long explored the powers of nature, experimenting with the centuries old practice of manipulating trees and vegetation to create immersive installations. Now delving into the digital realm, he presents a series of AI-generated artworks that transform trees into a variety of surreal structures for the upcoming ‘Architecture After AI’ exhibition at the Mebane Gallery in Texas.

For the Tree Manipulation Series, with the help of Midjourney the architect intricately weaves roots and branches of birch and pine groves into giant playgrounds, whimsical lookout towers, and dense forests within forests.

horizontal branches covered with moss amid a group of birch trees | all images by Ulf Mejergren

ai-generated playgrounds in the forests and tundras

Using AI design tools, Ulf Mejergren’s presents a series of trees transformed into interactive art installations in their landscapes. Large in scale and surreal in presence, they are climbable and habitable structures, most of which take on functions such as lookouts or shelters in the depths of the forest.

The architect twists apple trees into gazebos that are situated in a garden environment, morphs together wilder and cruder compositions in desolate forests, and even fuses branches to create playgrounds in barren ice-capped tundras. Some scenes depict branches that are growing together with other trees, while others rearrange whole stems, therefore they all have different time frames, from a year up to fifty years or more, depending on the growing procedures. ‘Perhaps those projects that move away from a garden environment are the ones that are the most interesting since the contrast is much greater against the untamed surroundings compared to an already domesticated garden,’ he observes.

birch trees grown shaped like a large cylindrical shelter

Ulf Mejergren continues: ‘This buffet of projects could hardly have been visualized if it wasn’t for AI. With this new tool, a multitude of ideas and options can be visualized and evaluated before making the final steps to turn these into reality since guiding trees takes a long time and a lot of dedication. Therefore it is crucial for the motivation to carry out a project like this to have a couple of good target images.’

a grove of birch trees transformed into a playground by fusing branches together