This is a thesis about design of young stands of trees. A big source of inspiration has been Västerskog and Tor Nitzelius Park in Alnarp which both consists of a structure of squares. I wanted to examine if this type of planting could be valuable from an aesthetic and recreational point of view. One problem today is that many people believe that we have to wait for decades for a planting to grow up so that we can enjoy the “ready result”. Instead we need to accept that vegetation is a dynamic material that never seizes to change and the “ready result” does not exist. This is by no means a disadvantage; on the contrary we ought to see the possibilities of the dynamics. Many young plantings today look very dull, but that can be avoided in the future if we instead of planting according to the final plan; implement a design for a place that is inviting, interesting and aesthetic from the beginning to the end. This work consists of two parts. The first part deals with how young stands can be formed so they become assets in parks and landscapes. The second part is a design proposal for the arboretum in the city park of Jönköping for which I use the conclusions I have drawn in the first part.
Part I
The first part consists of four chapters that discuss the questions that I believe are the most important when designing young plantings. The first is about the difference between young and older individuals and how it varies between the species. To make a planting obtain aesthetical qualities quickly, it can be good to know which species that develop such qualities already when they are young. The second chapter deals with the architecture of vegetation; that is how we can use vegetation to construct rooms.
The third chapter is about the shaping and the context of the place, which means design on a greater level than the room in itself.
The final chapter is about staging; how to by different means create
excitement and curiosity for the visitor, by working with contrasts and how the visitor is to move through the place.
Part II
Here, the theories have been applied to a real place, the arboretum of the city park in Jönköping. With the existing conditions I have tried to create a place as full of variation as possible. There are already quite many trees; some of them are of great size. It has been a part of my work to try to put my young stands together with the existing v...
