Our workshop aims to promote the appreciation of Nida’s forest by providing a new experience within the trees and introducing visitors into the tree canopy. It will provide a public shelter space that will act as a display case for the many treasures that will be found in the forest or the nearby beaches and dunes. We are proposing a shelter that will allow visitors to pause and appreciated the be
auty of the Curonian Spit’s coastline - both the form of the sea and the forest. Our shelter will take this transition from sea to forest one step further and introduce visitors up and into the trees. This will provide an experience that people do not usually have the chance to enjoy, as we are largely restricted to walking among the trees at ground level. Our plan is to introduce visitors to the aspects of the forest which are not normally experienced and allow them to spend time relaxing in this special part of Nida. The shelter will effectively take the form of a forest display case. The see-through timber walls will change their shape and colour over time as a direct result of the people who use it, as each wall will have multiple platforms which can contain treasures from the forest that anyone from local children to exploring tourists can collect and display for their next visit, or for those who will use the shelter next. Exposed sawn pine walls are directly related to the beautiful pine forest of Nida. Inside, three habitable levels provide different experiences for the visitors. At the ground floor level, there is a social space that will eventually be completely surrounded by the treasures gathered from the forest and beaches. This is where visitors would stop for a quick visit or a talk with their companions. A set of stairs leads up to the top level, which is designed so that visitors can relax, lie back and stare into the tree canopy, which they will be part of nearly four metres off the ground. Between these two experiences is a small mezzanine crawl space, where visitors can lie quietly and contemplate their beautiful surroundings. The workshop will be a pre-designed shelter which to be constructed by timber by around ten participants. The chosen material for the workshop is pine, as it strongly appropriate for its setting in the surrounding pine forest. At the beginning of the process, the selected participants will have an opportunity to review the design for the shelter and propose and discuss their own ideas or improvements. If there is time at the end of the workshop, the participants will have an opportunity to design and build furniture for the shelter using leftover materials. By the end of EASA, Nida will hopefully be home to a new timber shelter within the forest which introduces visitors to the tree canopy.
