Occulus - nr. Ashwicke, Wiltshire, UK
part of Studio In The Woods - short, intensive celebrations of designing through making
2017 / with Kate Darby of KDA and Gianni Botsford of Gianni Botsford Architects
'Occulus' was a constructed analysis of the 'sky component' - an objective measure of the amount of daylight falling on a given plane - at a particular location in the woods, nr. Ashwicke in Wiltshire where Studio In The Woods 2017 took place. Conceived and constructed in two-and-a-half days, the project sought to give shape to an aspect of place largely un-comprehended and develop a structure conceived purely through the act of making on the site - no drawings, no models, no computers.
Selected photos below courtesy of ClickClickJim.
Constructed Analysis (or how to avoid pre-conceptions)
No drawings. No models. No computers.
Generated by talking, looking and observing
Analysing, making and re-making
Thinking and re-thinking
Measuring and calibrating
Nature and the environment the starting point
The unexpected, un-designed outcome is the vindication of the process
- Gianni Botsford (2017)
This project is part of Studio In The Woods - ongoing, annual summer workshops where students and practicing architects test ideas through making at 1:1 and build structures that arise from and respond to the place of their creation. Work begins with the observation of nature and place, before graduating to hypothesis and concept through group deliberation. Each group is given recently felled trees to work with and are responsible for the milling of their timber. We then become builders. You can read more about Studio In The Woods here.