Flushing, Cornwall (UK) 2024
Trefusis Bird Hide is a two-year long live build collaborative project. First year Architecture students collaborated with the client (Trefusis Estate), Working Woodlands Cornwall and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), to design and build a Bird Hide on the edge of a lake. The Bird Hide will be built from locally sourced timber on the site, showcasing the sustainable forestry of working wooodland in Cornwall.
During the course of the design phase students developed 1:2 Mock-ups and 1:10 scale models to understand how their structures would be built at 1:1. Students worked in small groups to come up with 5 proposals which were presented to the client. Designs were presented to RSPB Cornwall and the University Bird Watching Society. Feedback was incorporated into the designs at an early stage. Understanding the importance of conserving our Bird Wildlife was a key part of the project brief.
The aim for the project is for students to design through making, understand the importance of locally sourced timber to design with a light touch and low carbon footprint. The first design phase has been excellent for students to understand the dynamics of working as a team and having a real client. The next phase of the project in 2024-25 will be the build phase. A new cohort of First Year students will build the chosen structure on site.
Client: the Trefusis Estate.
Collaborators: RSPB Cornwall; Tom Kemp of Working Woodlands Cornwall.
Tutors: Laura Battersby and Janie Hinton of Falmouth University.
Students: First Year Architecture Students at Falmouth University in 2023-24.
Research question:
How can a woodland site benefit First Year Architecture Students in understanding how timber is grown, managed and used in construction?
How can the design of a Bird Hide teach students to consider non human species in their designs?
Link: https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/architecture
+, 0-10, Architecture, Client-funded, Curricular, Falmouth Univ., Initiated by institution, Months, Students with tutor, Temporary, Undergraduate, United Kingdom