The holiday season is in full swing — or sleigh, in this case. Hello Wood, an architecture and design studio, built an 11-meter tall Christmas tree in one week using 365 sleighs in front of the Palace of Arts in Budapest. (Watch the video below.)

After Christmas, the temporary structure will be dismantled and the sleighs will be given to the kids living in the SOS Children’s Village homes in Hungary.

Here are the project details:



"Visitors can step in and have a look at the construction from the inside. The base is made of steel, it weights 4.5 tons, so the construction is perfectly safe from the heavy winds of winter. The four stems of the installation hold 325 kilograms each.

First, the carpenters of Hello Wood made the 10.5 meters tall wooden frame, which was brought to the scene, where it was put together with the help of a crane and the use of welding techniques."

"Then came the alpinists of Hello Wood, who were working on the installation for four consecutive days, fixing the sledges on the wooden frame while hanging down from the top of the tree. Although the installation is pretty heavy, it looks light: if you step inside, it feels like you are in the middle of a huge snowflake."

"'We wanted to create a temporary installation, which is not only spectacular, but its main elements remain usable so they can be distributed among kids. For us, this is the point of social awareness: you don't only show something, but at the same time you give something unique.' says Andras Huszar, architect of Hello Wood about the installation."





Project details:
Concept: David Raday, Andras Huszar, Peter Pozsar, Maxim Bakos
Architectural plan: Andras Huszar, Peter Pozsar, Adam Fogarassy
Design: Benjamin Szilagyi
Statics: Gabor Csefalvay
Realisation: Hello Wood
Lights: Tamas Kiraly, Gabor Agocs (Philips Hungary)
Partner: Gabor Zoboki (ZDA)

You can also check out panoramic photos of the installation.

Photos by Daniel Domolky

Browse the thumbnails to see more images.