The Woodland Experience

Year | 2006

Location | The Woodland Experience

Clients | Sheffield City Council, Parks and Countryside Service together with Handspring Designs Ltd

The Woodland Experience Project has been a successful Live project. Working together with Ecclesall Sawmill and Handspring Designs the students developed a masterplan for the site, a compost toilet and a canopy to be used as shelter between two of the existing containers on site. The projects received wide publicity, with the compost toilet winning second place in the AJ Small Projects Awards, 2007. This has helped attract interest to the site and raise the profile of the businesses ventures located there.

Using the knowledge acquired from researching timber construction the students created two structures at the sawmill site. Design was a high priority as timber constructions in a rural setting are often expected to be vernacular and traditional.

The  Canopy is located between two existing containers on site providing needed shelter for the storage and workshops in close proximity.

The Composting Toilet  was built using wood sourced from the local woodland. It has been designed to be durable and able to facilitate privacy. The students' solution went a step further, incorporating a reciprocal timber construction. Using the twisting nature of the structure, the toilet provides direct visual links to the surroundings, whilst protecting the user from external observers.

The masterplan developed by the students has fed into the developed masterplan by BDR for the site.

Credits

Student Team: 

Stuart McGrath, Chwee Keong, Joseph Mackey, Dave Baldwin, Chris Brightman, Emma Kennan, Leonora Lee-Maske, Shankari Rajanavanathan, Chris Richmond, Tecwyn Roberts, Joe Tener, Kim Winston

Mentor:

Prue Chiles