Simple Buildings of a woodland nature were derived from localised forest products
First strike of accommodation being the wood store and workshop for Processing of the timber to be selectively felled on the site
Phasing of the buildings
1 Wood processing
2 Domestic occupation
3 Public provision
Establishing Symbiotics
Buildings of the Woodland
...In the Woodland
Utilising our "In House' Practice Experience in timber Conversion and Carpentry Frame Design to generate the Architecture
Light Touch - Simple Sustainable Architecture. Natural Materials and of good proportion
RE - Tooling an un-managed Woodland and establishing a future for it. We commissioned tree and access surveys and built a detailed record of the site. We then designed fitting Utlitarian Buldings based on the Walter Segal system, that could be self Built from the trees on the Site..
Phase 1 - Workshop to allow for Timber processing and storage. Phase 2 - Croft House made in Workshop allowing for residency on the site. Phase 3 - Woodland Interpretation Centre Phase 4 - Bird Watchers Hide
Public access and Landscape to be held in Trust were key to this. An ethos of care and attention to the detail of the future Woodland was key to negotiating this Permission. Buildings and Landscape were symbiotic.
With Improving Ecology and potential removal of the Nuclear Base there might be some hope for this Dark North Facing wood that faces Faslane.
In the last decades the Flora and Fauna have been heavily reduced.
It was Forecast that there would be changes to the lock down of this peninsula that might start to allow for improvements and better access . Reduced contamination of the Sea might lead to the return of the once thriving Bird Life.
As a nod to that - a Birder's Tower was included in the planning permission.
The project was deeply inspired by the local wonder that was David Crosthwaite - Once a falconer with the RAF he spent the last years of his gentle life monitoring the struggle between nature and the huge military presence..
The narrative running through the project belongs to him as Rosneath's very own deep Ecologist . If you ever went to the Rosneath Animal park or the early period of Cove Park Arts you will recall a flock of Doves taking to the air on your approach . Those were Davids Doves. When we were working with Peter and Eilleen Jacobs on the conversion of the Rosneath Animal Park to The Arts Centre in 2001 we were moved daily by this.
David knew exactly how important it was to keep that flock of Peace flying ...over Dark Woods.
To this day, no sea birds lay their eggs successfully on the beaches of the Rosneath peninsula.
The project gained Full Planning Permission in 2004
It seems unlikely that this assemblage of Buildings will happen before major changes in local infrastructure.