Singapore's landscaping philosophy is “From a garden city to a city in a garden.” This concept inspired my concept of “houses full of plants.” In modern urban environment, our homes often lose touch with nature, and I wanted to create a reminder of how essential it is to bring the natural world back into our everyday spaces—with plants thriving in our apartments, flowers blooming on balconies, and trees lining our streets. It’s a call to reconnect with the living world around us.
When I moved to Kyiv, I lived in an industrial area near the main highway, where the city blends into the suburbs. It was full with vast green spaces, yet they felt distant from my daily life. Although I knew there were plenty of parks, I rarely interacted with nature. I could walk past a large park, but the street itself lacked roadside trees, and some areas didn't feel “walkable”.
Longing for a more livable environment, I started creating tiny landscapes and bringing them to my workplace. This sparked a chain reaction, as others began enjoying these miniature versions of nature’s sights. It made me realize that I wasn’t the only one missing nature’s splendor among the urban artificial landscape.
Izbushki is the plural form of of izbushka, meaning "wooden hut." In Russian fairytales, izbushka stands on hen's legs and moves through the forest, serving as the home of Baba Yaga - the eccentric old witch who could either help or harm those she encounters.
By elevating the florarium huts on "legs," I could place plants on different levels and create multiple compositions. All huts had identical bases, so they could be interchanged and grouped into towns.
