Matthew Chamberlain proposes Avenue Tree Pods to alleviate London’s housing disaster

College of Westminster graduate Matthew Chamberlain has designed a sustainable treehouse to supply starter properties on London’s streets, whereas additionally tackling town’s excessive air pollution ranges.

The Avenue Tree Pods are teardrop-shaped buildings produced from wooden, designed to merge with present or new timber.

Taking on the identical quantity of house as a single car-parking bay, every construction would provide short-term lodging to a single occupant. Chamberlain sees them being occupied by college students, younger professionals and first-time patrons, or to people who find themselves homeless or within the means of being rehoused.

The Avenue Tree Pods are are designed to merge with present or new timber

“Avenue Tree Pods seeks to supply a recent perception into urbanisation and group dwelling inside London, tackling and difficult each the present housing disaster and the rising air pollution points inside the metropolis,” defined Chamberlain.

“These self-sufficient, low influence city tree pods merge the home and avenue tree collectively, facilitating people innate attraction in direction of nature and pure processes, together with specializing in the significance of wellness and sustainable structure.”

Every one takes up the identical quantity of house as a automobile parking bay

The curved picket type of the design is meant to reference inosculation – the pure phenomenon the place the branches, trunks and roots of two timber develop and merge collectively.

Cedar shingles would give the buildings a pure, textured cladding, whereas picket chicken containers could be put in on prime, set amongst the tree branches.

Chamberlain, who accomplished the venture as a part of his MA in structure at College of Westminster, believes the venture will help folks to understand that timber are “a significant piece of infrastructure for a metropolis”.

The design mimics the pure phenomenon the place tree branches and trunks merge collectively

He claims the venture might enhance each the density of greenery and housing within the UK capital, whereas additionally permitting residents to get pleasure from the psychological advantages of being surrounded by nature – typically missed in city environments.

“Timber have proved to lower weight problems, scale back sure well being dangers and support psychological behaviour and finally make folks really feel happier and extra optimistic of their day after day lives,” he advised Dezeen. “Too typically, nonetheless, they’re disregarded as a significant part of city grasp planning infrastructure and healthcare.”

“This venture is quietly arguing that extra needs to be made to reside amongst our pure panorama,” he continued.

“It’s not sufficient to easily transfer it out of the best way for our architectural interventions. Timber are crucial to the success, well being and wellbeing of all folks and solely ever present benefits to our high quality and lifestyle.”

Tree trunks would run by means of the core of every construction, offering structural stability and guaranteeing no weight is positioned on the branches.

The trunks could be enclosed in an ETFE shell – a system that will enable water to achieve the tree and run by means of to the bottom – whereas a rubber gasket between them will enable the tree to develop while remaining sealed.

Exterior, the leaves of the timber could be used as a pure shading machine.

Llywelyn James proposes inexpensive cantilevered housing for London’s brownfield websites

To entry the treehouses, every construction would incorporate a retractable ladder that might be operated from exterior.

This might lead into every dwelling, the place Chamberlain has designed 4 storeys. The bottom degree is the plant room, which might comprise the rainwater storage tanks, air supply warmth pump and bio digester.

Above, the second ground would home a kitchen and dwelling house, with a small lavatory and balcony, whereas the third hosts a bathe room, workspace and storage. Lastly, the highest ground is the bed room with roof gentle.

A raised biking freeway might join the pods by means of town

Every pod additionally incorporates rainwater assortment, pure air air flow, and air-source warmth pumps, serving to them to perform sustainably, whereas cycle storage and a automobile parking house sit under.

Chamberlain has additionally conceptualised a raised biking freeway that will join every of the pods all through town. This could be accessible by means of doorways positioned on the third degree of every treehouse. 

A Avenue Tree Pod app would work as a real-estate portal

Moreover, a Avenue Tree Pod app would work as a real-estate portal for the dwellings.

“The Avenue Tree Pod app was designed as a imaginative and prescient for the way the venture would develop sooner or later,” stated Chamberlain. “The house display of the app shows all the assorted sorts of avenue tree pods obtainable, together with the related info that outline it reminiscent of variety of bedrooms and kind of tree.”

Whereas Chamberlain designed the Avenue Tree Pods idea for the London Aircraft Tree, he has additionally developed a parametric algorithm that will allow it to be prolonged to be used by totally different timber of various sizes and shapes.

Different designers to have responded to London’s housing disaster embrace Royal Faculty of Artwork structure graduate Llywelyn James, who proposed a sequence of elevated residential blocks for a brownfield website, and Reverse Workplace, which reimagined Buckingham Palace as a co-living house for 50,000 folks.