From Forest to Framework

This project explores how irregular timber, shaped by natural growth and environmental forces, can be used to retrofit housing in Fairfield, Thetford.

Drawing from principles of Continuous Cover Forestry (CCF), which promotes biodiversity and avoids clear-cutting, the proposal challenges industrial standards that deem naturally formed timber unusable. Irregularities such as forks, curves, knots, and spirals are understood not as flaws, but as structural responses to wind, light, and gravity. These forms are integrated into homes through bespoke interventions: a curved offcut becomes a window seat, a tree fork frames an opening, a juvenile trunk replaces a banister post.

By reintroducing forest logic into domestic spaces, the project links material use to sustainable forestry, creating demand for CCF and fostering a deeper connection between forest and home.