Catalpa speciosa collected from an abandoned factory complex in the outskirts of Flint, Michigan.
"Depaving" in Des Moines Iowa with ISU architecture students. Pavement from an unused road was selectively cut and rearranged, revealing soil. Seeds were collected from nearby plants and deposited in the newly revealed soil.
Commonstudio's Global Urbarium is an evolving, multi-city celebration of spontaneous urban vegetation. Bringing the traditional practice of herbarium specimen collection into the 21st century, the project attempts to to reframe the conversation (and challenge negative stereotypes) surrounding "weeds" in cities. Inspired by Emerson's assertion that "A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered", we believe that touching, identifying and celebrating the latent beauty of these urban ecologies may be a first step toward discovering those virtues.
To learn more about the Global Urbarium, check out Commonstudio's website.
