Bear Hut
Durmitor National Park, 2026
Co Creation: Daniel Nachmias

Bear Hut continues the vision initiated a year earlier with The Bear of Komarnica: the creation of a sculpture garden in the valley as a gift to the landscape generiouslly by Shala.

The image of a mother bear and her cub originated in Gili Shafir reflection on two relationships of motherhood (Yarden and Naomi, and Gili and Zohar). From this intimate point of departure, the work evolved into a broader exploration of protection, scale and belonging, combining monumental sculpture with an inhabitable spatial experience.

A giant mother bear and cub climb across a limestone boulder, while beside them a small, elevated structure forms an imaginary miniature kingdom. Through this inversion of proportions, the work seeks to empower children. The monumental becomes approachable, the small acquires presence, and the boundaries between shelter, creature and landscape begin to dissolve. Visitors encounter the mother bear from multiple viewpoints, moving through a layered experience of sculpture, architecture and play.

The limestone boulders of the SHALA valley became both the setting and an integral part of the work. Drawing on our practice at the intersection of design and engineering both a functional space and a sculptural image in its own right.