Location: Kew Gardens, London
Status: Competition Entry - Shortlisted
Adjoining a large silver lime tree located towards the eastern edge of Kew Gardens, this proposal explores the elevated experience typically associated with a treehouse. At the same time, we wanted to spotlight the tenuous relationship between the built environment and the natural resources required to construct it. The ten saplings scattered among the towering structure represent the number of mature specimens harvested to amass the volume of wood needed to build this entirely cross-laminated timber (CLT) tree house. Our hope is that the visitors who experience the beauty of Kew Gardens alongside these temporary structures, will recognize the link between the two and perhaps leave with a clearer understanding of the importance of renewable resources.
The diagram here describes the idealized life cycle of our treehouse. 25-30 year old trees go through the timber production process that has been around for centuries. This is followed by a more advanced contemporary CLT fabrication, which allows us to create highly customized components that are flat-packed, delivered, and assembled on site. Once the treehouse inevitably reaches the end of its life-cycle (even if relocated and rebuilt once or twice), it can be turned into mulch which could help sustain the ten trees that were originally part of the tree house design, but can now be planted elsewhere to produce the next treehouse in another 25 to 30 years.
Cross-laminated timber is typically deployed in solid walls and slabs. However, we were interested in creating a lighter structure by capitalizing on the fabrication potential inherent in Xilonor’s process. While a grid of columns and arches is not fundamentally progressive, the use of CLT to create such a structure is less common. The resulting repetitive structural frame and arched forms are a subtle reference to the filigree character of the iconic Palm House—where the use of wrought iron for the structure was incredibly innovative for its time.
Our goal was to utilize as much CLT for the treehouse as possible, given the sustainable benefits of the material as well as the capacity to fabricate unique, yet modular components. To this end, most of this structure can be prefabricated, flat-packed, delivered, and finally assembled like a kit of parts on site.