New Forest Tree House

The Solent Centre for Architecture + Design ran a unique architectural competition open to all final year undergraduate students attending architecture schools in the South East Region* to produce the concept design for a treehouse study centre to be sited amongst the ancient woodland at the Countryside Education Trust in Beaulieu.

The trust was in desperate need of a replacement for its previous classrooms which were in a bad state (known as the New Forest Study Centre) and this facility was planned to provide an incredible resource for use by young people, many from areas of particular inner-city deprivation, across the South East region. Additionally, CET wanted to widen the use of the tree house spaces to local community groups.

As well as providing fully for disabled access the classrooms/shelters had to be a model of sustainable and environmental design, technology and energy conservation. Construction materials were sourced within the region, where possible.

The winning student's design was developed to planning stage by novoe and BlueForest (specialists in planning and tree house design) and the winning student was involved in the live scheme.   Invaluable experience was gained in sustainable design technology, professional practice and in seeing a concept through to completion.  In addition the winner received a full portfolio of the scheme for use in their future career development.

Some lesson plans have been created for use by primary schools, who will be the main users of the tree house study centre.

Five entries were selected by a judging panel and the students invited presented their schemes at a final selection day when the winner was chosen.   Click here to see the final designs.

Tree House Award Lunch, Beaulieu 

The selection day was held on 15th February 2007, and the winner was Samantha Sherwood of Oxford Brookes University.   Click here for photos
                                                                                                                                                Supported by                          

Official Opening

The Study Centre opened May 2008.  The afternoon started with an introduction by Ralph Montague followed by the official opening by Alan Titchmarsh.  Around 200 people came to see the opening, which was covered by BBC South Today.

Build Progress

The following provides a background to the New Forest Tree House complex as it was being built in Beaulieu for the Countryside Education Trust.  You can follow the progress of the build below (start from the bottom).

July 2008

June 2008

The site at this point had really started to take shape with the main classroom clearly visible and the roof ready for completion.

May 2008

As the construction of the framework developed the major features, such as the turrets soon became more apparent.

April 2008

 

All the major foundations in place, and workforce numbers started to increase as the construction phase developed.

February 2008

The site had been cleared and with preparation started for tree house foundations to go in.  All the major trees in and around the site were dead wooded, by Blue Forests own team of trained tree surgeons. 

December 2007

Clearance work starting on site.  Test holes have been created to see the density of the roots on site, and ensure no damage was caused to existing trees.

November 2007

The existing site before any work had started by Blue Forest.

 

Blue Forest Ltd and Novoe Ltd  worked closely with the the winner of the student design competition, Samantha Sherwood, to develop her concept into a workable solution.  The designs were unveiled at a trustees meeting at the Countryside Education Trust in Beaulieu.  Over the next few weeks Blue Forest and Novoe worked with the Trust and New Forest National Park planners and finally submitted a full planning application.

The computer rendered images below are all courtesy of Blue Forest Ltd.

 

 Further Info

Students Concept Design Competition

 Third year architecture students across the south east were invited to submit concept designs for the new tree house buildings.  These designs were on exhibition at Beaulieu National Motor Museum.  Students produced some fantastic ideas and made life difficult for the judges to choose the winning design.  The winning concept from Samantha Sherwood of Oxford Brookes University and the shortlisted designs are shown below.

The winning concept design:

Samantha Sherwood, Oxford Brookes University



The Runners Up are:

Thomas Lethbridge, Oxford Brookes University














Sameer Mannick, University of Southampton



Shaun Giles, University of Brighton



Andrew Skinner, University of Southampton