Studio in The Woods
Studio in the Woods is an ongoing education and research project established in 2005 to test ideas through making at 1:1 with practitioners and academics leading workshops over 3 or 4 days in summer time.
Land Pier
Led by Toby Lewis of Feilden Clegg Bradley, the group's explorations ranged across the landscape leading us to create a ‘place of solitude’, where foreground and middle ground recede, celebrating the liberating and de-cluttering experience of this open landscape. A horizontal walkway sets a line and level, taking you out above the grass as the hill falls away, to an end where you can dangle your legs and the structure supporting you can no longer be seen, so that you seem to be hovering in space with all at a distance.
Transition (Janus) Piece
The design and construction of this project was led by Erect Architecture’s Barbara Kaucky and Susanne Tutsch. The transition piece was inspired by a small, protected chalk pit that had been cut into the sloping hillside of a large, open valley. An elevated single platform offers views outwards to the wider landscape, whilst a stepped and canopied arena focuses your observations on the more placid environment within the hollow. Walking up the valley and down into the chalk-pit, speed slows, views orientate downwards studying plants, smelling scents, relishing silence sheltered from the wind. Much thought went into the development of an elegant locked scissor joint that incorporates seating and invites a communal experience. The late Ted Cullinan christened our group 'the elves', quietly working away in the miniature topographical environment that inspired us.
