Timber Design Awards 2009

Key Features:

• Pod-shaped structure built ten metres high in a redwood tree.
• An arborist was contracted to select a robust tree and the one used is about 40 years old.
• The tree was tested for the amount of give in strong winds by using a line attached to a bulldozer.
• Design is inspired through forms found in nature and is reminiscent of a butterfly’s chrysalis.
• Clad with vertical timber fins which will aid natural cooling.
• Platform has to support the weight of about 18 people, with access provided by an elevated tree-top walkway.
• The tree’s diameter at the 10 meter point is 1.7m and the structure is securely fastened to the trunk using steel saddles.
• Parts of the walkway were built using redwood milled from two dead trees from the surrounding forest, which was originally planted for wood chipping.
• Sustainably-grown pine and poplar were used for the vertical fins and slats respectively.

• The building’s physical presence is reduced through a partial excavation into the landscape.
• Building materials are elemental – concrete block and wood.
• The use of roof timbers creates a pleasing aesthetic that avoids the traditional appearance of public toilets.
• The interior of the toilets and changing rooms are light and airy.

• The form of the bridge was processed completely digitally.  The use of modelling software enabled and encouraged three-dimensional non-uniform design. 
• The complex organic form was derived through a succession of manipulations, beginning as a cylinder but, by controlling the tension of the surface through a multiplicity of nodes, a shape that accorded with the site's intent was achieved. 
• Unique glue laminated rib components were geometrically crafted to varying lengths; once grouped in a specific order they emerge into an undulating sinuous form.

• Nelson Pine Industries Ltd manufacture laminated veneer lumber (LVL) from locally grown Pinus radiata, so it was natural this material was used to construct their new warehouse.
• The brief required a storage facility of 16,500 m2 to be designed as a showpiece for the use and functionality of LVL.
• The overall dimensions of the building are 128 x 64 m, with an eave of 10 m and an apex of 14 m.
• Double 64 m portal frames at 8 m centres span the long direction.
• The apex of each frame is supported on a longitudinal beam spanning 16 m between posts.
• All portals, beams, posts, purlins, girts and diagonal wall bracing are made up from the raw LVL billets manufactured on site.
• The 400 x 45 mm purlins and girts were cut from the basic billet size while the rafters and legs were built up from the basic billet using glued and nailed splices.
• The portal knee and apex gussets have been nail fixed only to give increased ductility.