Paul Laffoley
(b. 1940, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

Das Urpflanze Haus II
1981-97
Model: natural materials, plastics, model-making materials, paints, drafting film,
accompanied by a museum case with Plexiglas top
60 x 48 x 96 in.

Subject: A House Created by Grafting together Various Forms of Vegetation

Symbol Evocation: The Primordial Plant-Form of the poet Goethe

Comments: The secret to grafting and growing Das Urpflanze Haus to a mature and seeded state is the Ginko Bilboa or Maidenhair Tree. Native to China it tolerates all climates and soils. It was saved from extinction in the 19th century by certain Chinese Monasteries. The tree dates from the Mesozoic Era (144 million years ago) making it the oldest flowering plant alive at the time of the dinosaurs. Shoots of the tree can connect deciduous to conifer trees, fruits to vegetables, grasses to vines. The Ginko Bilboa tree is not subject to the divine proportion (.382…/.618…), the proportion of death.