The Cocoon

Four Design & Make students built an inhabitable suspended ‘cocoon’ which weaves between three trees at the edge of a forest clearing. The structure was envisioned as a quiet retreat where an inhabitant might sit and watch the sun set beneath the surrounding tree canopy. A ladder provides entry through a hole at one end, while a smaller hole on the opposite end frames the view - light penetrating the interior though small gaps in the skin. Thin strips cedar sawn from recently felled trees were bandaged together around a series of plywood frames until its skin was stiff enough to hang from the trees. The build process made use of the flexibility of green timber - the thin pieces eventually dying out to hold their curved form.