Wolfson Tree Management Centre

Westonbirt Arboretum commissioned Invisible Studio to build two new buildings: a larger tree management centre, which is a machinery store; and a smaller welfare facility for the tree team. Invisible Studio particularly wanted to use the timber from the arboretum as the client had never used this resource for building; for the big building, the practice wanted to find a way to use the Corsican pine trees in their entire 20m lengths rather than milling them down into smaller lengths. Thus the larger building was built around the idea of constructing big trusses.

The smaller building is one simple main space, picking up to the south, with a crank in the roof to let the winter sun into the yard. The mess building, though of a different scale, also benefited from the timber readily available on the woodland site. It has been clad in oak, felled as part of the arboretum’s tree management of its Silk Wood coppice. Its location was determined by the surrounding trees beneath which it nestles. Inside it is simple, with just two rooms and a loft storage space, all lined in plywood.

The engineering objective for the design of these buildings was to make efficient use of timber from the arboretum, with all processing taking place on site to minimise transport and processing costs.