Design

Undisclosed Zoo, San Diego: This nature playscape features climbing logs, balance beams, log bridges, and a large climbing tree "bouquet" that connects to a bridge. 3D scanning helped align design and product for a very unique piece with specific design requirements. Collaboration with engineers and the landscape architects determined final rotation, branch length, angle, and height. Once installed, this bouquet tree will be the central focus and main climbing feature of this incredible natural environment, promoting nature play for a variety of ages.

Architect: DPA Design
GC: CW Driver
Engineer: KPFF

Oregon Zoo Chimpanzee Towers: Two White Oak and Black Locust climbing structures are being developed for 13 chimpanzees at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Oregon. Each structure will stretch 18' into the air and offer multiple climbing platforms for the chimps. Progress drawings show the branching columns that will be used to hold the structure and the alternating platforms. WholeTrees is excited to be developing climbing towers our fun loving, agile cousins.
*Preliminary rendering by CLR Design

Architect: CLR Design
GC: Lease Crutcher Lewis, LLC
Engineer: Engineering Ventures

Eau Claire Children's Museum: WholeTrees has partnered with Steinberg Hart and KPFF to create a two-story structural round timber system for the Eau Claire Children’s Museum. The structure composed of our engineered bowstring truss and girders carried by a mix of 15’ and 30’ WholeTree ash columns. Construction for this project is set to begin late 2021.

*Image Credit: Steinberg Hart

Architect: Steinberg Hart
GC: Market&Johnson
Engineer: ERA
Engineer: KPFF

Production

MHA Amphitheater: Crews are currently in New Town, North Dakota working to install an Earth Lodge in the MHA Interpretive Center. This octagonal structure was completely prefabricated at our Westby shop out of locally sourced Cottonwood. The structure was then dismantled and shipped in individual pieces to New Town where it is getting put back together piece by piece within a nearly complete building.
*Photo Credit: WholeTrees / Michael Laverdure

Trellis: These four Black Locust trellis structures provide shade and the exterior second floor

Architect: DSGW Architecture
GC: (Link to GC): Woodstone Inc.
Engineer: Engineering Ventures

Install

Undisclosed Zoo - San Diego, CA: This nature playscape features climbing logs, balance beams, log bridges, and a large climbing tree "bouquet" that connects to a bridge. 3D scanning helped align design and product for a very unique piece with specific design requirements. Collaboration with engineers and the landscape architects determined final rotation, branch length, angle, and height. Once installed, this bouquet tree will be the central focus and main climbing feature of this incredible natural environment, promoting nature play for a variety of ages.

AVA Hollywood: This sculptural beauty tree will be a focal point in the entrance of an apartment building in Los Angeles. A swiveling steel base will elevate the branches and the entire tree will be lit from below. What a dynamic statement and interesting use of natural materials. We love this biophilic design.

Architect: GroundLevel Landscape Architecture
GC: Gothic Landscape Construction

Architect: DSGW Architecture
GC: (Link to GC): Woodstone Inc.
Engineer: Engineering Ventures

Finish Shots

Pokagon Justice Center: WholeTrees is proud to partner with 7Generations and CSM Group in the construction of the Health and Wellness Center for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. These 16' Red Pine pre engineered wood trusses are a new design for WholeTrees and we are excited for the unveiling. These trusses bring character, warmth and life to the structure, while maintaining the form of the curved roof. A must for the design, which originally called for glued laminated timber. The use of round timbers allows for a more natural and unique finished product.

Architect: Seven Generations A+E
GC: CSM Group
Engineer: Engineering Ventures

National Gateway: This mixed use building sits on the Potomac River in Arlington, VA and features over 1,500 new residential units, 625 hotel rooms, over 2 million square feet of office space, and nearly 250,000 square feet of retail, including a grocery store. A focus on open, public spaces including parks was a large part of this project and WholeTrees was asked to provide 14 branching, sculptural biophilic tree columns and 10 milled timber benches for the open air courtyard at the building's main entrance. Working closely with architects, landscape architects and engineers, these White Oak trees were carefully selected with the use of 3D scanning technology. These scans were then converted into Revit files and sent to the Architects for precise rotation and location points resulting in a seamless installation and gratifying naturescape. We're proud of the collaboration and excited to see these cull trees get new life and appreciation for years to come.

Architect: DCS Design
GC: Paradigm Contractors

Pokagon Health and Wellness Center: WholeTrees is proud to partner with 7Generations and CSM Group in the construction of the Health and Wellness Center for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi. These 16' Red Pine pre engineered wood trusses are a new design for WholeTrees and we are excited for the unveiling. These trusses bring character, warmth and life to the structure, while maintaining the form of the curved roof. A must for the design, which originally called for glued laminated timber. The use of round timbers allows for a more natural and unique finished product.

Architect: Seven Generations A+E
GC: CSM Group
Engineer: Engineering Ventures

Current Events in the Wood World and WholeTrees in the News

The Evans Tree House: Nestled in a natural Ouachita Mountain hillside along Lake Hamilton at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Evans Children’s Adventure Garden welcomed a new tree house to the grounds in summer of 2018. This tree house is the first of three planned for the garden that will provide an interactive educational experience for visiting children as part of an ambitious plan to bring children back into the woods. The tree house uses a rich visual and tactile environment to stimulate the mind and body to strengthen connections back to the natural world, while accommodating the needs of all users.

Construction starts on unusual $80 million, 25-story mass timber apartment tower in downtown Milwaukee: The $80 million project, known as Ascent, has broken ground and will eventually be the world’s tallest mass timber building, a 25-story, 259-unit high-rise. The mass timber process uses layers of wood pressed together to create columns, beams and other building frame components. Apartments, offices and other buildings made from timber provide a lower carbon footprint than conventional construction. They also can create a more attractive atmosphere, featuring exposed wooden interiors.

Project 30: The idea is to make it easier for busy families to drop in easily. Since the number of temple's visitor is unpredictable, the idea is to keep the indoor thermal environments without electric air conditioners. Here we started to look for a cabinet that does not need to By various approaches, brightness is very important to attract visitors; as a result, even during the hottest Bon Festival of the year, the indoor environment is 5 ° C lower than the outside temperature without using the electric lighting and air conditioning. This temple is like to continue looking for ways to connect with our ancestors in line with the modern life.

Hooke Park: This cabin was designed and constructed by students on the AA Design campus, The Cabin is a small timber structure dealing with the challenges of uniting organic and milled geometries, demountability and reversible joinery, and the use of inherent timber properties. It exercises an approach to pre-fabrication and construction that embeds the logic of its assembly into a series of discrete components. Drawing a lineage from previous buildings (eg. the Wood Chip Barn) and workflows developed at Hooke Park, the Cabin aims to resolve ambitious design and fabrication techniques at a domestic scale.

WholeTrees says Goodbye to Autumn Cartree and Hello to Timm Locke: As Autumn departs for an exciting new adventure, a friendly new face joins our team on the West Coast.