this leaf hut by UMA reflects on the fleeting beauty of life

a hut made of thousands of leaves

stockholm-based studio UMA builds temporary installations, experimenting with materials one can collect from nature. following its primitive hut series made of mushrooms, spruce cones, and snowballs, now the architects utilize leaves, capturing their vibrant colors and marking the end of the season. a hut made from tens of thousands of leaves celebrates autumn and reflects the beauty of ephemeral life.

celebrating the impressive spectacle of fall color

towards the end of autumn, the trees shed their colorful leaves, covering the ground below with this paper-thin material that forms luminous shadows beneath and around the tree. leaf fall is associated with the end of the season ‘when the outdoor furniture in the gardens gets stored away for the winter,’ as ulf mejergren architects mentioned. 

among the furniture, the trampoline in the yard is also ready for winter storage. by removing its jumping mat and safety net, it stays a bare steel frame. and so the idea for the new hut structure came. as UMA (find more here) explains, an outer layer of mesh is wrapped around the trampoline naked frame using the same distance springs that the jumping mat was attached with. the structure also gets an inner layer of mesh using the same technique, thus forming a wall system. an entrance is cut away and a ceiling is added. meanwhile, a convenient integrated small ladder sits in front of the opening.

diagram of how leaf hut was made

fallen leaves create an ephemeral hut 

once they made the skeleton, the next step was to fill the wall with fallen leaves. the team sought to collect mostly maple leaves which are large and colorful, even if they often lose their colors and turn brown when they have been on the ground for a while. ‘we waited until the first autumn storm so the leaves we would pick would be fresh and as dry as possible and went from tree to tree with a rake and gathered bags of leaves that we filled the structure with.’

the studio gathered leaves into sections and then filled the gap between the meshes. furthermore, to make the body more solid, they used a ladder to throw some leaves from above. by doing so, a leaf island took shape around the hut, making it stand out from the otherwise greenish terrain. as a final touch, they separated the most glowing yellow leaves to decorate and highlight the entrance to the structure.

front view

the entrance highlighted with bright leaves

the floor

side view

the solid-looking backside

looking out

view of the ceiling

leaf hut at dusk

project info:

name: leaf hut
architects: ulf mejergren architects (UMA)

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina petridou | designboom