Outlandia Fieldstation

As part of the Year of Highland Culture 2007, we were asked to design a multi-purpose platform for the use of diverse community groups as well as artists, writers, filmmakers and other groups on Forestry Commission land in Glen Nevis. Outlandia Fieldstation is conceived as an ecologically sustainable project, built with local materials and labour and with a minimal footprint that will eventually disappear.

There are three studios conceived as treehouses: spaces high up off the ground, set amongst the foliage and constructed in timber. Like a tree, these treehouses each has a trunk - a structural ladder which sits upon a minimal footing, and a canopy - or studio space. During the artists residency period they will function as rudimentary studios, offering sheltered views of the glen.

The Hub is a larger timber tower, an accessible bothy-like space where artists can benefit from space to dry clothes, eat and rest and compliment the solitary experience of the small studios. The Hub will also function as public interface for visitors to the project, as well as a platform for small art events and educational projects.

Each building gains a different aspect to the Glen with the studios sited towards the edges of the site such that the experience of walking through the wood between them becomes integral to working there, whilst each provides privacy without ever feeling too isolated - forming a little community.