The Black Forest Commonage of Pastoral Activities and Vernacular Crafts

Inspired by seasonal transhumance and the idea of ‘commonage’ in pastoral and farming traditions in Germany, the building serves as a demountable nomadic farm where silvopastoral farming for cows is practised and traditions of German folk craft and festivals are preserved and celebrated.

To find a sustainable environmental solution to pastoral farming in the post-industrialised German Black Forest, the building is seasonally dismantled and assembled, facilitating a nomadic ceremony on three sites: a mountain summer pasture in Fieldberg, a lowland autumn pasture in Furtwangen, and a river valley winter pasture in Hornberg.

While the upper structure of the building is dismantled, the ground scape of the building remains permanently on the site as a memorial imprint of nomadic behaviours. This is based on the study of cow gaits and cow-handling systems, in addition to the coexistence of humans and cattle in a traditional Black Forest Farm.