new spaces 10 EN

Enea has abolished the boundaries between fl oral design and landscape architecture. Thanks to his work, he has long occupied a prominent place in the contemporary culture scene. In 2007 at Design Miami, the annual spectacle of form and fun on the coast of Florida, for example, he erected a lounge where visitors were able to retreat from the hectic action of the design fair and slow down to a state of complete relaxation. The contemplative oasis, which was created from bamboo, formed the natural counterpoint to the aesthetic twists and turns of star designers such as Marc Newson and Ron Arad. Enea fi ts in perfectly in this circle. Several years ago, when Enea began to plan his new company headquarters in a location overlooking Lake Zurich, he wanted more than just a few offi ces and conference rooms. Together with the American architect Chad Oppenheim, with whom he had already collaborated on projects around the world, Enea created a landscape of plants, stone and light in which the award-winning offi ce building is only one element among many. The heart of the complex is the Enea Tree Museum, which features a collection of over 50 trees and shrubs. All of them were carefully selected and all of them are decades old. The museum has been open to the public for more than a year now. The park, which evokes a feeling perhaps best described as “Bauhaus-zen with magnifi cent trees”, is a magical landscape of trees, lawns, water courses, hedges, fl ower-beds and unobstructed views of the sky. “I wanted the museum to also emphasise respect for these creatures of nature. In other words, I wanted to inspire a degree of appreciation that is otherwise only shown for art ob- jects,” says Enea, explaining his motivation. Limestone blocks, which centre the visitor’s gaze and look like a mixture of sculpture and ruins from antiquity, divide the area into a series of spaces, each with its own distinctive atmosphere and special character. Oppenheim’s architecture is of course also an outdoor showroom for Enea’s work: “I believe trees are always directly connected to the surroundings, which should be designed accordingly. That ensures the areas are imbued with life and become living spaces that develop over the course of a year.” Enea observes a group of visitors who are standing in front of a 120 year old Azalea japonica, viewing the tree as if it were a work of art in a museum. He smiles. “The collection started with that azalea. We placed it in the garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1998,” says the “Lord of the Trees”. Now he has built a home for it, where it can put down roots. Even though the collection features only trees that can withstand winter weather conditions in central Europe, it is remarkably diverse, and includes swamp cypress trees, Japanese bonsais and 400 year old ferns from Tasmania. Enea is a rescuer of trees. The plants fi nd their way to him like stray dogs. After all, most of the exhibited plants were obstacles to a construction project or the redesign of a landscape area. To prevent such trees from being turned into fi rewood or sawdust, he allows his employees to carefully extract them and transport them to the grounds of the tree museum. “My greatest success is the fact that we successfully transplanted all the trees,” says Enea. He won’t reveal how it is done: “That will remain my professional secret.” He does explain one detail, though: “Transporting the big specimens required the main street of the canton to be closed off .” A team of gardeners and landscape architects looks after the unique museum. The boss himself no longer has an active hand. “But I regularly take walks through my park,” Enea says. “This way I see immediately if something needs pruning or watering — or if a tree isn’t doing well. I’m very demanding in that regard.” Enzo Enea knows that a garden is never perfect, that it grows, wilts and changes. He doesn’t have a favourite plant, he says. It all depends on his mood at any given moment, but there is a dream tree he wants for his museum: “My neighbour’s superb white magnolia. It’s 20 metres high and is now blooming.” ¤ Further information The Enea Tree Museum: Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. Mon. to Fri. 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sat. 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission: Adults 15 CHF, students 12 CHF. Upon request it is also possible to arrange a tour led by Enea’s landscape architects. The intensive tour lasts 1.5 hours and costs 300 CHF. www.enea.ch 7

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