Naturkabinett Dechow

The Nature Cabinet and the annual tree garden, together with the connected Gläserne Meierei, are a tourist attraction in the Schaalsee biosphere reserve in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The basic pedagogical approach in the Nature Cabinet is broken up by a landscape that can be experienced, annual trees that can be discovered in a playful way and designed spaces for movement and experiencing nature. The result is a place full of contrasts between natural and cultural landscapes to discover and experience.



The Nature Cabinet is embedded in the wide landscape of the Schaalsee biosphere reserve. A precisely mown sequence of cabinets is inscribed in the existing wild shrubland. The edges of the resulting spaces are partly framed with sloping, low wooden walls as seating and leaning edges. The cabinets are wildly connected to each other by mown landscape paths, while a circular path leads through the grounds in an orderly fashion. Individual cabinets function as green classrooms with additional seating for daycare centers and school classes, while others offer various, low-key play options and areas for picnics in the landscape. The hidden places along the mown paths can be discovered through play. The annual trees are presented to visitors in appropriate communities with tree panels and are interspersed throughout the cabinets. A renaturalized pond with a footbridge and information board complements the annual tree garden didactically. Two squares at the entrance and exit serve as meeting points.

Young Landscape Architecture AwardGerman Landscape Architecture Award 2019

Jury verdict: The Nature Cabinet with annual tree garden is part of the Schaalsee Biosphere Reserve as a designed and experienceable landscape space. An attractive tourist attraction with a focus on environmental education is being created at the Gläserne Meierei. Agriculture and nature conservation form an intense field of tension.

Gm013 succeeds in skilfully transferring commonalities from this field of tension into the landscape. With remarkably sensitive interventions, the existing wild shrubberies and meadows are framed by mown paths and squares to form a space-creating concept. Furnishing elements and materials are used with restraint so that the visitor's perception is directed to the special features in the surrounding natural space. At the same time, an atmospheric sequence of green spaces celebrates the annual trees and leads into the landscape space. The visual relationships and visual axes that have been worked out are emphasised by the objects, which are predominantly formed in wood.

The Nature Cabinet plays with its own mutability and stages the different aspects of nature throughout the course of the year. The annual trees, which are constantly being expanded, create new images again and again. The careful yet playful intervention in the sensitive landscape is emphasized. A project that stages environmental education in a refreshing and at the same time convincing way.