Inverewe, in Wester Ross, is famous for its gentle microclimate and exotic plants, which grow in the shelter of a forest belt set out by the garden’s founder Osgood Mackenzie. Eyrie was commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland as a way of drawing visitors further out into the grounds. We designed a structure for both attraction and circulation, an inhabited timber totem with a platform for stargazing, a bird hide in the tree canopy and, at its base, an artist’s bothy. On a steep wooded slope, visitors enter across a bridge and are delivered by stair to a lower level for more explorations.

CAPTIONS

Microclimate created by the forest belt – kitchen garden etc – very important plant collection

How do you get people circulating?

One of several sites identified for attractions

Economy of design

Analogy with woodpecker’s nest – tree with a hole

Intertwining of landscape/plants/art

Unusual openings in the wooden totem

Princess Anne laying foundation stone

PULLOUT QUOTES

EPHEMERA

Princess Anne laying foundation stone

Model

View of Inverewe gardens

Wow sequence of sketches

Tree trunk/woodpecker nest drawing