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Tree management centre

For the Tree Management Centre in Tetbury, UK, Invisible Studio decided to use only timber that was grown and milled on site, using it with no further treatments.

Invisible Studio was commissioned to build two new buildings for a new tree management centre in the Gloucestershire, UK. Architects wanted to use the timber from the arboretum – as the client had an extraordinary resource which they hadn’t previously exploited. As a result, all the timber was grown and milled on site, and used for the construction with no further processing.

Img.1 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.2 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.3 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.4 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.5 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.6 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Img.7 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 1, plans

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 1, sections

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 1, elevations

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 2, plan

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 2, elevations

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 2, sections

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Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, building 2, axonometric view

The first building – a tiny mess room – provides space for staff and volunteers to eat and take time out while also including storage and facilities to maintain kit. This little cabin-like building has an almost fairy-tale quality. Its location was determined by the surrounding trees beneath which it nestles, while its hyperbolic paraboloid roof has been shaped by the winter sun; it was designed so that during the winter months it would allow daylight into the yard behind. Inside it is simple with just two rooms and a loft storage space, all lined in plywood.

The second space is a vast timber-framed shed built to house the machinery needed to maintain the estate’s 15,000 trees. To create its large column-free open-plan space, huge Corsican pines, around 140 years old, were felled. These were then milled, graded and hand-hewn on site to provide the 20m-long beams needed for the building’s king post trusses.

Img.10 Invisible Studio, Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK, 2016

Wolfson Tree Management Centre Mess Building, Tetbury, UK
Program: mixed use
Architect: Invisible Studio
Engineering: Buro Happold
Completion: 2017