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Education
› Kennet School Theme Day
Working in partnership with BlueForest Ltd we compiled and delivered an exciting and enjoyable workshop as part of the Kennet School ‘Theme Day’ on 30th June 2006.
The overall objective of the event was to encourage students to creatively respond to a real life design brief using drawings and scale models to represent their final proposals. To help engage the students with a number of structural and environmental issues we asked the students to design and model a habitable tree house aided by the expert guidance of BlueForest Ltd, professional tree house builders.
The students were divided into 4 teams and were presented with 4 different briefs from which they were to select one to develop. We asked the students to produce plans and elevations of their individual proposals before developing their team’s chosen design in three dimensions.
BlueForest put together a list of considerations for the students to think about in their designs covering such issues as accessibility, environmental impact, material and structure choice and methods of bringing power to the tree house. We provided each team with a model tree made from hazel branches. All the trees had individual characteristics, which the students had to address in their designs.
The teams were given 1-hour to build their tree houses from the range of materials provided. The packs of materials included balsa wood pieces, card of various sizes and thickness, garden wire, string, bamboo, glue and sheets of wire mesh. The students were then asked to make a short presentation before being judged by their fellow classmates. An award was presented to the team with the most imaginative design.