Megan Townsend

Unit 22Year 5

Test model for timber

bending and weaving

!ree Dwellings

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A Retreat For An Idealistic Imagination

Imagination

‘!e world is full of nice, ordinary little people who live in nice, ordinary little houses on the ground. But didn’t

you ever dream of a house up on a tree top?’

Swiss Family Robinson 1960

!e MinpinsBy Roald Dahl - 1991

‘Little Billy is forbidden by his mother to enter the forest of sin behind his house. She tells him of the Whangdoodles, Hornswagglers, Snozzwanglers and Vermicious kinds that live in the

forest. Worst of all is the terrible blood sucking Toothpickling Stonechuckling Spittler, which chases its prey while glowing clouds of hot smoke pour out of its nose, and then swallows them

up in one gulp. Little Billy doesn’t believe his mother, and the Devil whispers to Little Billy that the monsters don’t exist, and there is a plethora of lucious wild strawberries in the forrest. Soon, Little Billy is walking through the forrest when he sees something coming a"er him, and

runs to escape it. As he looks back, he sees pu#s of orange-red smoke catching up with him. He escapes what he is sure must be the Spittler byclimbing up a tree as high and as fast as he

can. When he comes to rest, he notices windows opening up al over the branches, and descov-ers a whole city of little people, !e Minpins, living inside the tree. !e leader of !e Minpins,

Don Mini, tells Little Billy that the monster waiting under the tree is not the Spittler (which the Minpins have never heard of), but the Red-Hot Smoke-Belching Gruncher, who grunches up

everything in the forest. It seems that there is no way for Little Billy to safely get down from the tree and return home.

But upon learning of the close friendship between the Minpins and birds, Little Billy devises a plan to rid the forest of the gruncher: Little Billy $ies on a swans back and uses his scent to lure the Gruncher into a lake. !e water of the lake puts out the %re in the Gruncher’s belly, killing

him.!e Minpins are gratefulto Little Billy for ridding the forest of their tormentor. !ey reward

him by sending the swan to serve as Little Billy’s own personal transport every night, which he uses to explore the world and to comtinue his new found friendship with the Minpins.’

!is intial drawing was inspired directly from !e Minpins story. I listed all of the provisions ‘Little Billy’

would need. !is design is not just for him, but any child or adult who %nds their idealism a trait they do

not want to lose, or in fact encourage.

A Retreat for an Idealistic Imagination

When designing the tree dwelling, I %rst looked at the site and tree that I would use. !is happened to be an Oak tree. I then set about researching the Oak, and used in-spiration from Oak pollen and the Acorn to come up with my initial designs.

A Stage Set For Storytellers

Fragility

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‘Tree took account of road, which was aware of air, which was mindful of sea, which shared things with

sun. Every element lived in harmonious relation with it’s neighbour, and all was kith and kin’

Life of Pi 2001

Life of PiBy Yann Martel 2001

‘As a teenager in Pondicherry, India, Pi is constantly exploring new opportunities and learn-ing new things. his father is the propritor of the Pondicherry Zoo, where Pi learns much of the

workings and raising of animals.Pi grew up Hindu, but descovered the Catholic faith at the age of 14. He convert, and later again to Islam. He adopts all three as schools of thought. At 16, Pi’s father decides to move the zoo to Canada, due to the new developments in Parliament. !e animals and family are loaded into

the same boat. On the journey to Winnipeg, the boat sinks.All are lost, except Pi, a hyena, zebra and a 400 lb tiger called ‘Richard Parker’, later an orang-utan arrives too. Pi removes himself from the animals by constructing tarpaulin and staying

above. !e animals eat eachother, until only Richard Parker remains.Pi gets scared and so constructs a $oating ra" that is attached tot he back of the boat. He learns

how to catch %sh, and sets about training Richard Parker.!ey share food, and slowly over time, begin to bond. Food is scarce though, and they both

become quite ill. 7 months pass and they are struggling. !ey lose their sight and come across another blind man $oating in the icean too. !ey talk, and eventually the blind man tries to

board Pi’s boat, intent on eating him. Richard Parker does not allow this, added to his hunger, he attacks the man and eats him. Pi cries about it, but his tears clear his sight and they continue

their journey.!ey eventually come across an island of algae. Pieats the algae to regain strength and sleeps in the boat at night. Richard Parker eats the meerkats that live on teh island and sleeps in a tree.

!ey soon %nd out the island is carnivorous and so hastenly leave.Finally, a"er $oating along further, Pi spots land and disembarks in Mexico. Richard Parker runs o# into the woods, and Pi is rescued by two men, who owned the boat that sank. He re-

counts his 227 day story, but they don’t believe his fantastical tale.

A Stage For Storytellers - A Centre for Local History

Rye House Pleasure Garden !e Great Bed of Ware Transport of Hops and Barley Royal Swans on the River

Main structural ribs to boat de-picting local history ‘scenes’

Upper deck and lower deck. Up-per as a viewing gallery, lower as

reading and learning area

Bent wood forming the main hull shape of the dwelling

Hand carved main spine to the structure, where all else is hung o#

Joint slotted onto main central spine of the boat construct

A Bath for an Executive

Vulnerability

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‘!e Emperor was doubtful showing himself naked to the people, but then he abandoned his fears. A"er all,

no one would know about it except the ignorant and the incompetent.’

!e Emperors New Clothes 1837

!e Emperors New ClothesBy Christian Anderson 1837

‘A vein emperor who cares for nothing, bires two swindlers who promise him the %nest and best suit of clothes, from a fabric invisible to anyone who is un%t for his position, or “helplessly stupid”. !e Emperor can not see the clothing himself when he tries them on, standing naked in front of the mirror. He pretends, though, that he can, out of fear of appearing un%t for his posi-

tion; his ministers do the same.

When the swindlers report that the suit is %nished, they mime dressing him and the Emperor marches in procession before his subjects, who play along with the pretense, until a child in the

crowd, too young to understand the desirability of praising the emperors’ new clothes, blurts out that the Emperor is wearing nothing at all, and the cry is taken up throughout the crowd.

!e Emperor cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but continues his procession with his head held high.’

!is dwelling will be situated on the top of a 1960’s style o&ce block. It will be avaliable for the city worker to

take a break from the indoors, or the husstle and busstle of the London streets. !e process is important to enjoy

the outcome. !e feeling of vulnerability necessary to invigorate and take stock.

Shunning the City - A Bath House for the Infallable City Worker

360 degree view of the bath house for the infallable city worker

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Deconstruction of bath hut for a city worker

Flip up roof to allow weather in, and views to the sky

Rain catcher with %lter to collect water to heat for bath

Entry door

Oak hand cut timber shingles to clad the exterior of the bath hut

Mahogany clad interior to create a dark and relaxing atmosphere

Twisting louvres for a more per-meable feeling to the bath corner

In%nity pool style bath spilling over the edge

Gutter to collect water spill of for cleaning and growing green wall

Cantilevered over the edge of an o&ce block

Chimney to allow smoke / steam to escape from inside

Use of bath water from gutter to cultivate growth on the facade of the o&ce building

3 Months

6 Months

8 Months