Tree of Ténéré in Dallas, Texas

The Tree of Ténéré is an art installation in Dallas, Texas, designed by DRIFT. The constructive work was performed by Pieters.

The original Tree of Ténéré stood in the Sahara and was considered the loneliest tree in the world: there was no living plant within a 400 km radius. The tree was used by nomads as a landmark in the desert. The tree was destroyed in 1973 by a drunk truck driver.

The art installation weighs 10,000 kg and is approximately 10 m high. 75,600 LEDs are part of the tree. These are controlled from a control room in the basement under the tree. The speed, intensity and color of the light respond to the audience and the environment.

The construction of the 10-meter-high tree consists mainly of welded steel pipes. The Ø600x16 meter tube of the trunk ends in 5 main branches that are coupled with bolt connections. Organically, the construction continues to rejuvenate until it flows into about 120 pipes 95x5. The branches are then inserted into this.

The steel structure contains 120 branches for the branches. These 2.5 meter long branches consist of bundled aluminum tubes (7 tubes Ø25x2.5 glued together and wrapped in polyester that branch 1 by 1 into twigs), which carry 840 aluminum twigs (of approx. 60 cm) with plastic connectors. . Each twig bears 15 leaves. Each blade has 6 LED lights that are individually controllable with DRIFT software.

DRIFT had a nice video made about the tree, in which the making process can also be seen.