Rebirth of the Dancing Forest | Rocco Design Architects Ltd

In 2022, Rocco Yim was invited to design an outdoor installation for Arte Sella Architettura, inspired by the unique natural landscape of the Sella Valley. RDA’s Rebirth of the Dancing Forest (Rinascita della Foresta Danzante), created in collaboration with Milan Polytechnic, is a three-dimensional matrix built using fallen branches recovered after a destructive storm in Italy.

Installed in the garden of Villa Strobele—an area dedicated to architectural creations at the open-air museum of Arte Sella—Rebirth of the Dancing Forest was opened to the public on 16 September 2022, following the Building With Nature conference that discussed the employment of eco-sustainable and biocompatible materials in construction. 

Located in the Borgo Valsugana area of Trentino, Italy, Arte Sella has been combining nature and contemporary art for more than three decades, since its launch in 1986. Furthering their objective of “nurturing an ongoing dialogue between creativity and the natural world”, RDA’s installation is a memorial to the significant damage caused in the Dolomites by Storm Vaia, which destroyed about eight million cubic meters of wood from fallen trees across the region’s forests. The work is a reminder to people of the fragility of our environment, as well as a declaration of hope for recovery after the natural disaster.  

The salvaged branches are inserted in the ground to create a walk-through grid and linked at the top to evoke the resilience of nature, where treetops lean against each other for mutual support and protection against external forces. The installation comes alive during the day with shifting shadows of the wooden matrix and people moving in and out of the space—creating a projected choreography on the ground. A representation of the power of togetherness, Rebirth of the Dancing Forest calls upon our collective strength to overcome adversity.

Credits

Architect: Rocco Yim [Rocco Design Architects Associates LTD]

Photography: Giacomo Bianchi

Engineering and coordination: Professor Marco Imperadori [Politecnico di Milano]

Manufacturing and Engineering: Marco Clozza and Claudio Clozza [D3Wood]

Communication: Rosa Zambelli [Arte Sella]