The Forest
Our brief was to develop a feasibility study for a new restaurant venture by a leading London restaurateur. The project is intended to be completely off grid and a zero-waste business. The ingredients are to be sourced from the adjacent land and forest as well as from local suppliers.
The design ideas we developed incorporated the following key design and technical principals.
Design Principles
Tactile
The building is designed using natural low carbon materials that are tactile, warm and beautiful. The materials used form a large part of the experience of the forest restaurant experience.
Modest
To ensure the experience reflects what we seek to find in the forest we believe the design of the building should be modest. It needs to respond sensitively to the site and feel well integrated.
Joy
The proposal is to locate all arriving cars away from the site of the restaurant. All visual links to the man made world should be minimised. So too, our impact on the natural world. The joy and experience of immersing oneself in the forest should be paramount.
Discovery
From the car you will be lead on a path, a walk through the forest to arrive at the restaurant. The path is a circular walk with the restaurant located along the way. Upon leaving the restaurant you continue the walk back to where you began. The walk should offer a sense of discovery of the various aspects of the forest. The project will need a wider master-plan designed to suit each site.
Simplicity
A forest is a complex landscape with a diverse set of compositions, habitats and ecosystems. A building that sits well in such an environment should not compete on this complexity. It should be pure in form and structure, subservient to the organic forms of the forest, to ensure the forest remains the focus of attention.
Iconic
We have chosen to work with an iconic shape as it offers unparalleled efficiencies in structure and a strong and distinctive architectural experience.
Counterpoint
Through the use of strong geometry the building sets up a counterpoint with the organic shapes and forms of the forest. The building acts as a counterpoint to the forest, a clear contrast, to the forest as it changes through each season.
Reflect
Whilst the design is clearly man-made with a strong geometry the shape still draws from nature. Like the canopy of the forest the building reduces in width as it rises through the canopy and the mass of the building floats off the forest bed.
Construction Principles
No Concrete or Steel Structure
The design will not use any concrete or steel within the primary structure. It is very difficult to build a true zero carbon project if any of these materials form a part of the primary structure.
Structurally Efficient
The building form allows for an efficient use of materials. The A-Frame is a highly efficient shape. This will result in lower construction costs as well as a reduced impact on the demand for timber. All timber will be engineered to further reduce timber volumes required.
Modular
The module is a single repetitive primary structural module. It can accommodate a large range of configurations without modification. The design gives flexibility and at low cost.
Factory Assembled
The modules can be CNC cut. This allows for flexibility in assembly. It can either be assembled as a kit of parts on site. Or it can be factory assembled as modular panels and then assembled on site. Or it can be fully assembled as sections of the building in the factory, to then be delivered to site as pre fabricated building sections. This allows for fast site construction, high quality outcomes and lower costs.
Disassembly
Through the modular design, with a simple integral structure, the build can be easily disassembled and moved to a new site if there are reasons to change the location of the Forest Restaurant.
95% Compost-able
The building is made out of predominantly biomass materials such as timber, straw, hemp and timber fibre. The building will therefore be predominantly compost-able and will have a much lower end of life impact that traditional petrochemical building materials.
Fabric First
The building envelope will be highly insulated and thermally efficient to reduce the demands on mechanical and electrical systems such as Solar PV & ASHP. If well designed, a building energy demand can be reduced by a factor of 10 over standard energy consumption and will significantly reduce capital investment in mechanical and electrical systems as well as running costs. This is essential to achieving a low carbon building.
Vapour Open
The building is designed as a vapour open structure which ensures the longevity of the structure as well as improving indoor air quality and reducing the demands on services
No Toxins
Many modern building materials contain unhealthy and toxic materials. Our design uses only natural building materials that contain no toxins and create a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. It is in tune with nature and causes no harm on decommissioning.
Deliverable
The design is based on best practice methods of construction using available and locally sourced materials and we have identified a UK specialist manufacturer who can price and deliver the designs.
Elements
Client: Private
Location: Private
Status: Under Development
Sector: Commercial - New Build