Young architects competition for “tree house” projects, as well as urban life in forests and amongst trees.
Register: MAR/15/2021, Submit: MAR/15/2021, Eligibility: Young architects, landscape architects, planners, designers, students; up to 30 years of age; individually, teams, Fee: Free, Awards: 1st Prize: 8,000 USD, 2nd Prize: 4,000 USD, 3rd Prize: 2,000 USD, 7 Finalists; each of 3 winners and 7 finalists: Casper Via L30 Tablet
The “Tree House Park” competition seeks to extend design insight into architecture embedded and in harmony with the natural world with trees and tree habitation as the focus of ecological design. The competition is set in Istanbul, Turkey, in a forested area in the district of Cekmekoy, a low density residential zone on the Asian side of the city. It is home to 265,000 of Istanbul’s 15.5 million residents and has witnessed rapid urban growth in the 2000s and 2010s. Cekmekoy is today a mix of low and high-density housing but also contains natural areas with wildlife and indigenous forest. The “Tree House Park” competition seeks designs for architecture in this mix of built and natural environment. The competition calls for projects to envision architecture for a tree house as well as urban life embedded within trees. We seek proposals for design ideas for a tree house and the surrounding forested area in the rich potential of the forest as a social and activity zone for a neighboring residential property and community.
This competition proposes generation of architectural ideas for tree houses and also for different activities for a forested area that could also be suitable for implementation in protected green areas throughout the city as an example of the conversation of nature within cities.
TREES, TREE HOUSES AND THE STORIES OF THE FOREST
The tree house as a building typology in the modern period is equated with childhood and leisure. An enclosed space set in the outdoors open to the sky and elements, the tree house is an important setting for the stories of youth, the playful adventures and escapades that are part of growth and maturation. The setting in the forest away from society guides the emotional growth of children, interaction between the inner self and the symbolic potential of the surroundings. However, we can also see that the tree house is a luxury that only a few have experienced. This intersection of real life and utopia, the access to the tree house is limited to those with access to forests and the means of building. In this way the rich stories of the forest embodied in fairy tales gives the forest a profound narrative potential that is limited to a small group yet an aspiration for many. We thus envision this competition addressing the issue of broader access to tree house as a part of urban life. The modern tree house is a vehicle of a romantic idea of nature and modern living. In this competition we seek ideas to broaden the role of a tree house in the 21st century. We would like the competition proposals to plan for a tree house as a part of a Tree House Park, an outdoor area for recreation and interaction with the forest. Activities such as a running path, zones for meditation, yoga, stretching, climbing areas for children and off leash dog park. For the tree houses the competition brief has identified the need for an open and closed tree house type as a part of this interaction with nature.
“A tree house is ironically a house without a foundation that embraces a tree and is rooted to the ground only through that tree. The house literally sways in the sky representing freedom in modern life but is profoundly grounded as ironic duality. Designs may address this duality between sky and ground as well as other dualities such as adventure-security, entropy-stasis, domesticity and wild nature and the contradiction of inhabiting a living place that reshapes your world and in turn shapes your choices.”
SITE
Cekmekoy is a municipal district in the Asian suburbs of Istanbul, Turkey. Historically it was a rural town on the periphery of Istanbul with a population of 1,938 in 1980. It became a district in 2009 having separated from the municipality of Umraniye. Also the towns of Omerli, Alemdag, and Tasdelen villages, 17 neighborhoods and four other towns joined Cekmekoy district in the same year to create the borders of the present municipality. In 2019 the population density of Cekmekoy was 1,763/km making it one of the least dense districts of the metropolitan city of Istanbul.
- Forest: Coniferous pine forest, bushes and grass
- The plot: 19,000 m2 forested area
TREE HOUSE ARCHITECURE
The tree house in the modern period is an architecture typolog distinct from the use of structures in trees built by prehistoric and indigenous peoples. In the premodern period these structures above the ground primarily offered protection from wild animals, enemies, and the flooding of nature that was hostile to human existence. The architecture of tree structures camouflaged among the leaves by indigenous people was an outgrowth of indigenous structures raised above the ground on stilts and struts. As such this architecture has an architectural language derived from vernacular construction and the availability and application of timber resources in forested zones primarily in tropic and subtropic climates. But over the last hundred years, modern tree houses have transformed to provide a spatial and sensual experience of nature as a building type with its own architectural style. An architectonic development of the tree house has resulted in numerous options for building in trees. Stay rods, fasteners, bolts, belts and cables are now used with timber to build modern tree houses. As such part of the task in this competition is to take a position on on the design of structures in trees and forests. Competitors should in the design adress the task of engaging a living foundation, the unstable parameters of nature, and user/habitant. The architecture of the tree house is expected to be based on building on foundations on trees and elevated off the ground on columns with a light touch on the landscape.
NATURE FOR ACTIVITY
The main theme of the competition is based on the idea of a “Tree House Park” that will host a number of tree houses and activities set inside a forested area. The forest area will be organized as a park with outdoor activities such as a walking path and zones for physical activity to stimulate exploration and discovery. The tree houses and primary park activities are envisioned to be in and on a network of walking paths and spaces. The design strategy of the competition will be to retain the natural materials and character of the forested area as a nature reserve. The competition calls for a noninvasive approach to the design of the park where a ecosystems are supported and new construction minimized.
Tree House Park features
- Trails
- Tree houses
- Swings and ladders for children
- Nature observation point
- Stargazing high platform
- Flowing water
- Climbing elements
- Yoga/Meditation zones
- Outdoor event theatre
- Dog walking zone
- WC
Types of Tree Houses
- Individual houses
- Houses for group use
- Thematic for small children
- Social area for teenagers
- Party spaces for adults
website | treehouseparkdesign.com |