Chop Stick is a building constructed almost entirely of one tree (the same tree you see sticking right through its center) - Click Image To Enlarge
THIS KIOSK IS MADE FROM PARTS OF A SINGLE TREE, A SINGLE TREE THAT STAYED MOSTLY INTACT.
Just about every building is made, at least in part, from trees. But Chop Stick, by Visiondivision, won’t let you forget that fact. It’s a “treehouse” made almost entirely from a single yellow poplar tree for 100 Acres park in Indiana. For an additional twist, every bit of the tree that wasn’t used served as an epic cross beam for the structure. So to the onlooker, there’s basically a whole tree sticking straight through a wooden kiosk.
Everything about the construction required extremely careful planning and modeling, as bits from the tree had to be removed without challenging its structural integrity (Click Image To Enlarge)
The project is meant to remind us that natural materials are sacrificed for everything we build (Click Image To Enlarge)
The team tells me.
“Normally, we don’t think about where things are coming from in our daily life, and we really wanted to make it obvious. Paper, bricks, mobile phones, whatever they might be, don’t just pop up by themselves … our idea is that we should really show this raw material in a pedagogic way, to see where things are coming from, and to also make a pretty awesome building.”
The project required an incredible amount of patient ingenuity. Once the actual tree had been selected, all of its bark was removed and treated to serve as shingles (shingles that are maintenance free for 80 years, I might add). For the remainder of the project, the team had to closely analyze the shape of the tree itself to see which chunks could be removed without destroying its structural integrity.
But Chop Stick’s tone is positive, or playful even--you can even purchase the tree’s sweet sap from the snack counter (Click Image To Enlarge)
Youngsters along with their parents have fun on the Chop Stick swing (Click Image To Enlarge)
The team explains.
“We had to calculate each board that was required for the kiosk and also say exactly where this piece of wood was coming from.”
The team labels this process the most difficult part of the project. Of course, these cuts gave the tree a newly balanced weight, meaning new mathematical simulations were run frequently, leading to the inverted jigsaw puzzle that was ultimately built.
In its new life, the tree will provide a beautiful swingset for kids in the park, and it will also serve refreshments. On the menu? Yellow poplar syrup that was extracted from the tree’s bark. As the team put it best, “you could actually eat a part of the building.”
COMMENTARY: I just love how Visiondivison has carefully crafted into the construction of the Chop Sticks treehouse and playground the natural beauty of nature. Regular steel swings are so boring after seeing the Chop Sticks treehouse and playground. Chop Sticks is not just a playground, but a community watering hole where parents and children congregate, play and socialize. It's an outing and a celebration of nature's beauty.
Courtesy of an article dated December 5, 2012 appearing in Fast Company Design
Comments