Eco-tourism hut within a reparative micro-forest - Baltic Sea Beach, Ventspils, Latvia - 57.5186664, 21.6738861 

Narrative:  Our solution “touches the site lightly”, proposing a new sacred ground suspended slightly above the meadow.  Part nomadic tent, part sailing vessel, part observation platform, part bird in flight … the project provides as many deep and rich references as the greater site itself.  Formally, the project is a study in materials and wood-joinery, utilizing a sophisticated approach to structural engineering, pushing the boundaries of engineered wood design and off-site/component-design strategies, all to fulfill the practical and conceptual aspects of the project while also respecting the natural environs.  In due time, as happens in the forest and on the beach, the only remnants of occupation will be the skeletons of the project - the concrete caissons - gnomons of a once collaborative energy, all pointing to the sea.

The primary construction materials are dimensional and engineered wood from the dominant tree species existent within the broader site, notably, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.); Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.); and common birch (Betula pendula Roth.).  Handrails at the bridge are aluminum bracketed to glu-lam support beams.

The wall system for the house is a pre-fabricated stress-skin wood wall system (see A above) with an interior finish of wood sheathing and an exterior finish of phenolic panels (installed with an aluminum clip/rail system as a rain-screen) on plywood sheathing with a weather protective barrier (WBP).  

The foundations are designed for significantly reduced site disturbance, consisting of four (4) 24’ diameter steel-reinforced CIP concrete piers (caissons) embedded min. 10’ into bedrock (recognized as clay-stone per the site’s general geology).  Primary support beams for the structure above is of engineered gpu-lam beams (see A above).  The foundation therefore ‘touches the site lightly’, and allows the pre-fabricated elements to be quickly and easily lifted above the site (prima sacred ground) via a small-bed crane, thus reducing the overall construction impact upon the site.

The roof structure is a tensile fabric braced by a central aluminum pole located in the Living Room area, and attached with nautical rivets to the pre-fabricated wall system (much like a boat).  Much like a boat or a tent in the landscape, the canopy allows for yoga/life under the canopy, under the sky, or under the sail.

The exterior platform (new sacred ground) is constructed of pre-fabricated dimensional lumber (see A above) on an engineered glu-lam joist system with an aluminum compression ring at the center, attached via an aluminum knife-blade joinery system.  In the nature of wood-craft and boat-craft, each joist creates a combinatory truss with it’s opposite mirror joist.   Much like a boat or a tent in the landscape, the platform allows for yoga/life under the canopy, under the sky, or under the sail.