treehugger€¦ · - final treehugger 08 18 28 48 56 62 88 114 146. research 6 research 7. research...

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Tree

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STUDIO SHOT


Contents

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Research

- Designing For Public Spaces

- Valley Gardens

- New England Woods

- City Park Rangers

Experimentation/ Development

- Basket Workshop

- Samples

- Development / Prototypes

Final Product

- Final Production Of TreeHugger

- Final TreeHugger

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Designing For Public Spaces

Public spaces play a vital role in the life of communities, socially, economically, culturally and ecologically. They bring people together and create places. Placemaking is a movement adopted by the Project for Public Spaces that encourages communities to collectively reimagine and reinvent their public space, in order to strengthen the connection between people and the places they share. It is not just about promoting better urban design, Placemaking requires particular attention into the physical, social and cultural identities that define a place and support its on going evolution. By doing this it will improve people health, happiness and wellbeing. Spatial Design is a subject that I am very much excited by and would like to pursue in the future, therefore I came into this project hoping to create something that could change public spaces for the better, and transform spaces in a exciting way for people to share. I started by looking into particular activities that take place on public land and found myself researching into public events and the importance of them within society. My dissertation was entilted ‘How can we make public events more sustainable?’. From writing the essay I discovered how influential public events are and the importance of engaging people, in order to make them understand and gain knowledge surrounding sustainability. This is where the role of designers can come in to find new ways to raise awareness of issues around the subject of sustainability. I attended Feeding the 5000, which is an international public event that takes place specifically to raise awareness of food waste. The event serves up lunches for 5,000 people made out of food that otherwise would have been wasted. It brings organisations together to looks at ways of tackling this global problem on a local level.

Feeding The 5000 Event


Hoxton Square Pop Up Tree Trunk Office (left)

Guardian Article: Green Space In Decline (right)

Artist Research


“The design highlights the need to improve and utilise our urban

green spaces in new and fun ways for everyone to enjoy.”

Artist Research


Shay Raviv - Under Construction (top right)

Shigeru Ban - Modular Shelters (bottom left)

James Fox - Creativity For Play (right)

Artist Research

16 17Research ResearchFirst Hand Research: Community Upcycled Playground - Madrid


18 19Summer Project

Valley Gardens

Valley Gardens is the strip of green that runs through the centre of Brighton, certain are-as within the strip are very dull and gloomy and not really used, apart from when public events take place on them. Brighton & Hove City Council plan to regenerate the area and make it more at-tractive and useful for people to share. This was a good starting point for me to explore a specific space and understand how as a designer we can transform them, without harming the surroundings. ‘New Trees’ and ‘Events and Activities’ were two elements that the council proposed and which I focussed on for my research. I began photographing the area to explore the already existing elements and tried to think about how I could use what is already there to transform them into something more exciting, a form of hacking. The trees were one element that I focussed on, which also seemed to be an important part of the regeneration. Trees within public places are very important, not only mentally but environmen-tally, and especially within cities. They also start to form spaces and create interesting landscapes for people to enjoy.

19Valley Gardens

20 21Research ResearchValley Gardens

22 23Research ResearchValley Gardens - Fittings

24 25Research ResearchStaking

26 27Research ResearchCamping Fittings


New England Woods Trip

Research trip to explore how people can work together, participating in outdoor activities. These activities included making our own objects (spoon & mallet) out of sourced green wood, and using only hand tools. This trip was also an insight into how trees grow without any interference from humans, allowing nature to take its own path. One fact I discovered was how trees can split from the main trunk into two, forming a ‘U’. The tree transforms in order to gain more mechanical strength; this U shape is used within fibrous materials and is a great example of biomimicry. During the trip I started to appreciate the relationship between people and trees, how some-one could cut a branch and use it to make their own spoon. I started thinking about how the life cycles of trees could relate to the life cycles of people, and designing objects that could be for a particular age bracket attaching to the equivalent age of a tree. For example a child’s toy attaching to a sapling (young tree). This led me to look into the process of planting a tree.

New England Woods

30 31Research Research30 31Research New England Woods

32 33Research ResearchNew England Woods

36 37Research ResearchNew England Woods: Fittings In Nature

38 39Research ResearchNew England Woods: Fittings In Nature

40 41Research ResearchNatural ‘U’ In Trees

42 43Research ResearchSketchbook


City Park Rangers / Tree Surgeon

The City Park Rangers are a group of peo-ple who volunteer to help conserve Brighton & Hove’s green public spaces alongside Neil Doyle, the lead Ranger who is a specialist in local park conservation. I joined the group on a few trips while they were maintaining areas within Stamner Park. This involved coppicing, a traditional method of woodland management where young tree stems are repeatedly cut down to the root or stump in or-der to allow for new growth. The coppice in Stamn-er Park was used to build a fence separating the pathway from the woodland, in order to stop cyclist and pedestrians from entering and disturbing the habitat. I met with Iain, who is the founder of Ar-bour Barbour (an Aborist company) to find out more about his day-to-day routine as a tree surgeon. I discovered that there is a lot more to their line of work than just cutting down trees. Arborists are heavily involved in the conservation of trees and making sure they are healthy, like doctors for hu-mans. Iain mentioned that trees in public spaces, especially urban places, need looking after more and that its not just about planting the actual tree but looking after it through its stages of life. Iain explained the method of tree pruning and the equipment used within the process, a bow-line knot (traditional forestry knot) was originally used to hold the weight of the load, and to make an anchor point at the base of the tree (acting as a pulley). This was before new technology came out and now the anchor point is a steel structure called a Bollard that ratchets onto the base of the tree and is able to support a significant load. The anchor point without knowing became an extremely part of my project.

City Park Rangers

50 51Research ResearchFence Building With City Park Rangers


The Trees and the Axe is the cautionary tale of a woodman who went into a forest and begged the trees for a handle for

his axe. The principal trees at once agreed to the request and unhesistatingly gave him a young ash sapling. No sooner has he made the required handle than he set to work to fell the

very same trees that had made this sacrifice of another. When they saw the use to which he was putting their gift, they cried

“Alas! alas! We are undone, but we are ourselfs to blame. The little we gave has cost us all: had we not of sacrifced the

rights of the ash, we might ourselfs have stood for ages.” - William Gilpin

City Park Rangers


54

Tree Surgeon Fittings - Anchor Point


Basket Making Workshop

Anne Marie held a weaving workshop to teach a group of us about the application of willow, a natural material, pliable enough to use if treated in the correct way. Following on from the woods trip, it was another way of seeing the relationship between raw materials and the human touch, and the delicate objects that can be made. We learnt various techniques of how to work with the materi-al; one method that particularly interested me was tying of an end to form a knot. In order to do this the willow needs to go through a process called cranking which allows the fibres within the willow to break slightly so it can be wrapped tightly and tied off.

Weaving WorkshopExperimentation

58 59Research ResearchWeaving WorkshopExperimentation

60 61Research ResearchWeaving WorkshopExperimentation 60


Sample Fixing Making

Through my fascination with fastenings and the idea of creating something for outdoors, which people can enjoy and interact with, I start-ed to create a body of samples that reflected my research. Using natural materials such as wood and combining these with synthetic materials that have been influenced by camping, hiking and gen-eral durable outdoor materials such as rubber, ny-lon webbing, rope, canvas and steel. My aim was to keep an element of natural materials for their charm but contrast this with the more synthetic materials for durability.

Sample Fixings Sample Fixings

64 65Research ResearchBowline KnotSample Fixings

66 67Research ResearchOak, Nylon Webbing, Eyelets & Bungee CordSample Fixings

68 69Research ResearchTripod Lashing, Pine Dowel & Cord / Steel Rod, Ply & ElasticSample Fixings

70 71Research ResearchBeech, Leather, Rubber Starping & Bungee CordSample Fixings

72 73Research ResearchThreaded Oak / Pine, Dowel, Bungee Cord, Elastic & PoppersSample Fixings

74 75Research Research74 75Sample Fixings Ply, Zip & Pop Rivet

76 77Research ResearchStakesSample Fixings

78 79Research ResearchFoam & MDF / Pine, Rubber & Galvanised SteelSample Fixings

80 81Research ResearchBeech & CordSample Fixings

82 83Research ResearchCanvas & D Clip / Beech, Foam & RubberSample Fixings

84 85Research ResearchDowel, Canvas & Press StudSample Fixings

86 87Research ResearchThe Perfect Fit: Ash, Birch & TwigSample Fixings

88 89Research ResearchDevelopment Prototypes

Production Of Prototypes

The next stage of my project was to start ap-plying samples I made to prototypes. The flat pack, tree chair was my first that was aimed to individuals to go out into the woods or to find any scenic land-scape they desired and to enjoy the scenery around. I realised quickly that this was not what my project was about and that I wanted to create something that was for a group of people to share and enjoy an experience with. This is when I made my first flat pack tree ta-ble, which I took out into the woods with the City Park Rangers and shared are afternoon tea break on. This seemed to be a nice change than sitting on the floor and pouring tea, it created more of a gathering for people to congregate around. However again I believe that it was not the situation I was looking for, I created another flat pack table and held an event called Urban Gathering that was held place in Victoria Gardens (Valley Park). This was both to test a bigger piece but also undergo an investigation into people’s behaviours within the situation, looking into where they put particular objects and general use of the table, and how they used the space around the ta-ble. This went well and I managed to gain a lot of feed-back from the group who seemed to really enjoy the whole experience of carrying parts of the table, set-ting it up and eating beside the tree. The Tree Fixing was designed to fit trees from 750mm circumference to 2,000mm, these measurement were found from doing a data collection of trees within Valley Gardens and finding an average girth sizr. I also wanted to avoid extremely wide girthed trees (old) and skinny trees (young) as could be seen as more vulnera-ble.I also did a beach prototype which looked specifi-cally into different terrains and seeing weather parts could be adjusted to where it was, for example on a pebbled beach, muddy or concrete floor.

90 91Research ResearchTree Fastening Prototype: One With Nature Chair - Attatches To TreeDevelopment

92 93Research ResearchTree Fastening Prototype: One With Nature Chair - Attatches To TreeDevelopment

94 95Research Research94 95Development Tree Fastening Protoype One

96 97Research ResearchTree Fastening Prototype OneDevelopment

98 99Research Research98 99Development Tree Fastening Prototype Two

100 101Research ResearchTree Fastening Prototype TwoDevelopment

102 103Research Research102 103Development Tree Fastening Prototype Two

104 105Research Research104 105Development Urban Gathering Picnic

106 107Research ResearchUrban Gathering PicnicDevelopment

108 109Research ResearchUrban Gathering Picnic - FilmDevelopment

110 111Research ResearchUrban Gathering Picnic - FeedbackDevelopment

112 113Research ResearchBeach PrototypeDevelopment


Final Production Of TreeHugger

For my final piece I decided I wanted to make a large flat pack table that attached to dif-ferent sized trees. I was finding it hard to design something simple and elegant that also served the purpose of being sturdy and flat pack. I began by putting my design into auto-cad, which allowed me to quickly tweak parts when necessary and see how parts looked together. I did one prototype of the canvas part to make sure it worked and then print-ed a pattern cut and had it made by Bleu Pearce, a professional seamstress. I had various parts CNC for aesthetic and durability purposes but wanted to keep elements of natural materials for the joints and legs. The joints were made so that anyone could be able to assemble the piece without the use of tools. I named the table Tree Hugger. The Tree Hugger is a water resistant, flat pack transportable table that is designed to use the support of trees as its core strength. Camping and Arborist equipment has largely influenced the design and aesthetic of the table, where an anchor point attaches to a tree in order to spread the load, allowing it to use less materials than if it was free-standing. The table is easily assembled and dis-sembled without the need for tools and consists of extra accessories such as pockets and karabi-ner clips which add practicality and versatility. The application of the Tree Hugger is vast, from small gatherings in your back garden, to picnics, fetes, community events, festivals and large-scale pub-lic events. Trees are not only life essential but also an important part of communities, lining streets, parks, playgrounds and gardens. Its pop-up ability allows people to transform spaces and create ex-periences within our natural environment, without harming the tree or its surroundings.

The TreeHuggerFinal Production


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CAD DrawingFinal Production

118 119Research ResearchAnchor Point / Tree FittingFinal Production

120 121Research ResearchCanvas SectionFinal Production

122 123Research ResearchEyeletsFinal Production

124 125Research ResearchFlatpackFinal Production

126 127Research ResearchFlatpackFinal Production

128 129Research ResearchColour CombinationsFinal Production

130 131Research ResearchColour CombinationsFinal Production

132 133Research Research132 133Final Production Final Colour Combination

134 135Research ResearchCanvas SectionFinal Production

136 137Research ResearchThread JointsFinal Production

138 139Research ResearchJointsFinal Production

140 141Research ResearchLeg & FeetFinal Production

142 143Research ResearchFeet & StudsFinal Production

144 145Research ResearchTree Fitting / Pivot PointFinal Production

146 147Research Research146 147Final Piece The Treehugger

148 149Research ResearchFinal Piece The TreeHugger

150 151Research ResearchThe TreeHuggerFinal Piece

154 155Research Research154 155Final Piece The Treehugger

156 157Research ResearchFinal PieceFinal Piece The TreeHugger

158 159Research ResearchThe TreeHugger

162 163Research ResearchThe TreeHuggerFinal Piece 162 163

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treehugger€¦ · - final treehugger 08 18 28 48 56 62 88 114 146. research 6 research 7. research...

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