Bijlmer Tree Garden (Bijlmer Bomentuin)

Bijlmer Tree Garden (Bijlmer Bomentuin)

The Bijlmer Tree Garden is a design for an arboretum, made up of trees from the more than 140 different countries that the residents of Amsterdam Zuidoost also come from. Half of the trees are located in a conservatory. The layout of the Bijlmer Tree Garden (around 1 hectare in size) encompasses a path that connects all the trees with one another. The conservatory is the focal point of the Tree Garden with the trees, the residents’ stories, educational projects, and much more. The entrance building also has an international restaurant. Trees are often linked with folk tales and rituals, and with personal stories and memories. These stories are visualised in the conservatory and the garden and via a website. A special aspect of this art project is the collaboration with other disciplines and the way in which the residents can make a personal contribution to the project. A foretaste of this was apparent at the Trees and Stories exhibition in March 2006 in the Centre for Visual Arts (CBK) Zuidoost.
In 2005 the Zuidoost district expressed the intention of constructing the Bijlmer Tree Garden in the Bijlmer Park that was due for renewal (in line with a design by Mecanoo architects). This led to the setting up of the Bijlmer Tree Garden Foundation that produced a business plan for the project. However, in 2010 the Zuidoost district decided that the Bijlmer Tree Garden would not be realised.