Gridshell - Studio in the Woods

Studio in the Woods is an annual summer workshop that enables participants from a range of backgrounds to test ideas through making at 1:1. The workshop has been held on a number of UK sites, always in rural environments. Groups are lead by expert practitioners in Gianni Botsford, Kate Darby, Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, Feilden Fowles, Erect Architecture, Architecture 00, Baxendale and Studio Weave.

Having been a student participant herself, in 2017 Zoë Berman joined Piers Taylor (Invisible Studio) Charley Brentnall, Meredith Bowles (Mole Architects) and Laura Mark (Royal Academy of the Arts) as an assistant tutor.

Architect Peter Clegg described the event: 

“For the Chinese, wood is the fifth element - right up there with earth, air, fire and water. For Studio in the Woods… the subject is both the material and its provenance. Dedicated groups of students and tutors, brought together initially by the abundant energy of Piers Taylor, work in wood, and in and around the woods. They start with the observation of nature and place, graduating to hypothesis and concept. The students are given recently felled trees to work with and are responsible for the milling of their timber. Then they become builders. Ted Cullinan and myself share the enjoyable task of providing a final crit for each teams work.”

“For the Chinese, wood is the fifth element - right up there with earth, air, fire and water. For Studio in the Woods… the subject is both the material and its provenance.” Peter Clegg