A forest symbol of all the world's forests

Last year, on the occasion of the opening of the Life Sciences Building at the University of Bristol, UK, a complex structure called Hollow. The sculpture is a small forest of the world's forests, which aims to tell the history of the planet using pieces of wood from different species. The work was created by artist Katie Paterson and the architectural firm Zeller & Moye.

Extraordinary about this work is that it was designed as a modern cave made from about 10,000 pieces of wood gathered from around the world. The grotto is big enough to fit 2 people who have a unique experience inside. Looking up I can see the sun shining on the pieces of wood, making it look like a forest covered in light.

It took Katie three years to collect all the pieces of wood. Together they represent millions of years of Earth's history. There's fossil wood, but also some that are left over from more recent events. Many have been donated by collectors or botanical gardens.

These are very rare and ancient woods. For example, a piece from a fossilized Lebanese cedar tree, another from the oldest tree on the planet - the Methuselah tree - more than 4,800 years old, or a fossil wood from the forest that existed 390 million years ago where New York City stands today.

Modern and contemporary history has not been neglected either. Among the pieces of wood are a piece of a Panama Canal railroad sleeper that took 50 years to build, a sample of the Gikgo tree in Hiroshima that survived a dark moment in human history, and a piece of wood from Atlantic City, devastated by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Paterson has endeavored to collect wood from as many species and as many places on Earth as possible. Professor Guy Orpen, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol and Chair of the Public Arts Committee, said this is a very exciting way to celebrate the work of researchers in the Life Sciences building, the place where all the issues now facing humanity are studied: climate change, biodiversity loss, food security, etc. The work allows you to connect with the beauty, complexity and depth of the natural world.

Architects Zeller and Moye, co-authors of the project, say that the place inside the cave makes you feel embraced by history. Thousands of wooden blocks of various sizes form a vault, a wooden roof with different textures and openings. The opening at the top of the vault lets in natural light, creating the effect of the tops of forest trees.

Hollow is a special project that does not tell everyone that we live and evolve together with wood, with trees, with the forest. I think it can also be seen as a signal, a reminder to remember that we can only exist together.