A vivarium is a small facility for keeping and breeding terrestrial and aquatic animals. The Vivarium humanicum ingens consists of 36 glass segments (measuring approximately 180 x 250 cm) that surround a dormitory. The glass segments are so sturdy that they keep the shrubs growing behind them at bay towards the street and at the same time this combination of building material and nature faces outwards like a fortress. Roots grow upwards, the glass is maltreated by the plants, the weather and the people who leave their mark. The people who live behind this artificially created border cannot be seen, they disappear into the thicket of the vivarium wall.