Andrew has long been a fan of the work of Gabriel Pool in Queensland Australia and spent a number of weeks at "Tree Top" in one of his Houses in Noosa. This foreign perspective highlighted the comfort and necessity of the treetop or Queenslander principal.
The visit to Noosa raised a question mark about the relationship between Buildings and Woodland in Scotland and the UK.
That was the start of finding a solution to a number of projects where mature trees were present . It raised question marks about light touch and vertical format approaches.....
A vertical woodland typology was developed for this very specific place.
We believe that there should be more native woodland in our Country and that we should do what we can to improve our national relationship to trees.
Working with established trees is the start of appreciation of them . Living in proximity to them is a good starting point. Developers generally clear a site in Scotland before building and the cycle of Ecological depletion and Environmental damage starts there.
On reflection these are houses for Ecologists , birders or woodsmen that want engagement with the environment.
Andrew had been working on a number of projects with Forester John Mackay a few years earlier and this house design built on what they had discussed on a project up on the Gairloch.
The relationship between people trees + houses was investigated via these hand drawings by Andrew for this sloping mixed deciduous and evergreen woodland site.
Its simple Barn architecture ...on stilts
Roof Plan of Woodland Eco House
Drawing by Andrew McAvoy
Entry and road level Plan of vertical format stacked Eco House
that relates people to Woodland canopy. Drawing by Andrew McAvoy
Section through circulation of a vertical format Eco House
Drawing by Andrew McAvoy
Roadside and approach Elevation of Woodland- centric Eco House
Drawing by Andrew McAvoy
3D Rendering of Eco Houses in Landscape by Liam James o Sheah
Simple rural Scottish forms of familiar proportions placed in a relationship to each other - Outbuilding ,Tower and Barn.
The Woodland Landscape forming a cloak around the town was un-managed and access was untenable and the presence of these agrarian forms might have introduced necessary symbiotics.
A small amount of development and a detailed woodland management Plan by John Mackay ...went hand in hand. With defined domestic Plots of 21 m x 21 m we developed a permaculture based layering of the Woodland that stacked it in many layers like the wood itself.
A house commensurate with the dwelling of many living things. Sustainable strategies including - Passive solar , Wood frame, all natural materials selected on the basis that the House at end of cycle could fall back to nature leaving no toxicity.
In placing a number of light touch structures at road side and in proximity to trees we were seeking to attenuate Living and Ecology.
The 3 D modeling of the prototype house once designed to be repeated a number of times across the site was produced by Liam o Sheah.
State of the Art woodland practice was developed by Forestry Consultant John Mackay and he can be found here. http://www.ukfisa.com/membership/membership-listing/scotland/john-mackay-ltd.html
The project was developed in collaboration with Ann NIsbet of www.annnisbet.com through the firm of Edo Architecture,
3D Rendering of Woodland Eco Houses aligned along an exiting Road having bitten into Woodland Edge
Image by Liam o Sheah
3 18m x 18m bites from Roadside into Existing umanaged woodland allowing for vertical format houses.over a number of levels .
Sketch by Andrew McAvoy
IN THINKING ABOUT HOW TO WORK SENSITIVELY ON SLOPING SITES AND AMIDST TREES THE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES HAVE BEEN INFLUENTIAL
This was heavily influenced by The Sea Ranch by Charles Moor who played with the contours and verticality of a different site
Gabriel Poole in Queensland has been investigating the "light touch" stilt House typology for 30 Years . Here he investigates entry at top of site and a passage through the house to a relationship with the forest.
Exemplary practice .