ABSTRACT
The Hooke Park Biomass Boiler House project involved testing of a 3D-scanning process of standing curved trees, as well as the application of the resulting scanning data to derive an architectural geometry. Replacing oil boilers and electric heating, the project is part of a larger plan to establish a closed sustainable cycle for heating by using timber waste from the 150-hectare Hooke Park woodland. The building is divided into a plant room and a chip store, and the envelope of these two rooms is made of curved and straight timber, sitting on a 150mm thick concrete retaining wall, which is mostly below ground level. Movements had to be gentle and slow in order for the computer to process and match the various views. Digital script routines were written to automate the process of iteratively test-fitting all the tree curves and optimizing the wall geometry with respect to different criteria.
