Home of Seeds

Through innovation in material use and a deeply speculative lens, Home of Seeds invites us to reconsider how we build, live, and co-exist with the natural world.

Client:

Matters of Activity
Cluster of Excellence

Partners:

Agustina Creta
Daniel Disitzer Serebrenick
Margarita Diaz Casas

#syntopic #speculative #bioarchitecture #pinecones #hemprope #branches #eberswalde #sustainable #post-apocalyptic #2050Berlin #woven #robust

To live like a tree, in solitude and free; and like a forest in solidarity. This yearning is ours.

— Nazım Hikmet

PROJECT OVERVIEW - SOLITARY PINE TREE

Home of Seeds is a speculative scenario that takes place in 2050’s Eberswalde. Humans are already faced with the destroying effects of global warming and the population decreased to 123 people.

 

There is one remaining solitary pine tree in the forest of Eberswalde, so they cannot cut it to build shelters or tools.

 

  1. They need to plant the pinecones to help the reforestation but they are also curious if they can use the pinecones to build anything that avails both humans and the solitary pine tree.
  2. Pinecones are one of the most abundant materials that can be found in a pine forest. Yet, they differ and not constant or uniform like conventional materials. Therefore organic techniques would be necessary to handle this material holistically and worthily.

 

Home of Seeds is a syntopic wall which provides shelter for humans and the pine seeds. It is built with the cones of sugarpine by binding them with hemp rope. The woven structure then is stabilized by including branches that fell from the tree. The hemp rope shortens when it is wet, therefore the structure gets stiffer and provides shelter also during rainfall. It is a robust structure that can be woven and fixed together with a very simple technique.

 

As the new trees grow in a couple of years, the community of Eberswalde expands their settlements and build new shelters around the old ones while leaving the old ones to young trees.

CONTEXT & CHALLENGE

 Location: Eberswalde, Germany (circa 2050)

 

  • Situation:

    • Catastrophic climate change has reduced Eberswalde’s human population to 123 people.

    • Only one sugar pine remains standing in the local forest.

    • Conventional building materials (timber, metal, plastic) are unavailable.

    • Community members must both rebuild shelter and reforest their surroundings without harming the last living pine.

 

Key Questions

  • How can a community repurpose fallen pinecones, an organic, variable, and non‐uniform material, into a structural shelter?
  • In what ways can a shelter actively contribute to reforestation and support the lone sugar pine’s regeneration?
  • How can biomaterials and simple construction techniques work in harmony with a hostile, unpredictable climate?

CONCEPT & INNOVATION

Home of Seeds rethinks “building” as an act of co-growth. Instead of felling the solitary sugar pine, the inhabitants gather its fallen cones and employ them as the primary construction element for a woven wall that:

Sugar pine cones

Sugar Pine Cones

  • Porosity & Insulation: Air pockets between scales insulate against heat loss.
  • Biodegradability: Over a 2–3-year cycle, cones decompose into nutrient-rich humus, directly feeding new saplings.

 

Hemp Rope

  • High tensile strength, hygroscopic behavior (contracts when wet), naturally resistant to rot and mildew.

  • Acts as the binding “weft” in a continuous, basket-like weave.

  • Wetting during rainfall triggers contraction, compressing the cones into a tighter, more stable module.

 

Fallen Branches

  • Inserted at strategic intervals (every 0.5 m vertically) as rigid “rebars” to maintain overall wall geometry.
  • Create axial stiffness, preventing local bulging or collapse under load.

RESEARCH

Pinecone Selection & Classification

 

Pinecones (strobili) are conifer reproductive organs: male cones release pollen, while female cones develop seeds. Under extreme 2050 climate conditions of reduced water, higher temperatures, altered soil, cone morphology and resin content vary considerably.

 

  • Classification Criteria:

    1. Type: All cones sourced from the lone sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana).

    2. Size: Large (>12 cm), Medium (8–12 cm), Small (<8 cm).

    3. Condition:

      • Intact (fully closed scales)

      • Partially Open (slightly spread scales)

      • Damaged (broken scales, insect/fungal marks)

 

Purpose: Tracking size and condition enabled us to prioritize cones with higher resin content and structural integrity for weaving.

 

 

 

 

Resin Extraction

 

  • Procedure:

    1. Boil classified cones in deionized water at 100 °C for 10 minutes.

    2. Remove cones, cool the liquid, then decant and filter (50 µm mesh) to collect purified resin.

 

 

 

 

Thermal Treatment

 

Goal: Reduce moisture, stabilize organic compounds, prevent microbial growth.

 

  • Protocol:

    1. Inspect cones for mold or debris.

    2. Oven at 100 °C for 30 minutes, with 10-minute aeration breaks to release steam.

    3. Target residual moisture: <10 % by weight.

 

  • Outcome:

    • Optimal drying minimized warping and preserved scale rigidity.

    • Overbaked cones (weight loss > 5 %) became brittle and were excluded from assembly.

// Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
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FUTURE VISION

 

Reforestation Catalyst:

    • By directly embedding seeds within the shelter’s walls, Home of Seeds accelerates forest regrowth. Each shelter is effectively a “mother plant nursery,” nurturing trees that will eventually overshadow and reinforce the structure itself.

 

Community-Driven Resilience:

    • Building Home of Seeds requires minimal specialized tools or industrial inputs. Knowledge of simple weaving techniques and local materials is enough to replicate shelters across Eberswalde. It offers a blueprint for decentralized, community-led recovery.

 

Provide immediate shelter in a climate-ravaged world.

Foster new growth by serving as a seed nursery, ensuring that human habitats become catalysts for forest renewal.

Passively regulate interior comfort through material properties (hygroscopic contraction, thermal insulation, ventilation).