Civic New Construction | Austin, TX | 2021
Architect: Mell Lawrence Architects
Client: Pease Park Conservancy
Contractor: Harvey-Cleary Builders
Structural Engineer: AEC
Landscape Architect: Ten Eyck
Photography: Casey Dunn & Leonid Furmansky
As part of the redesign of Kingsbury Commons led by Ten Eyck Landscape Architects, the Tree House offers Pease Park visitors an immersive experience of the tree canopy, creating a place for both rambunctious play and quiet reflection for people of all ages and abilities.
Developed while working as part of the Mell Lawrence Architects team, Clare served as the project manager and led coordination with the structural engineer and contractor to realize this unique and complex project.
Accessed by a pathway tucked into the hillside, the structure emerges from the forest along the main trail through the park. On the upper level, a large net invites visitors to pause and look up at the surrounding flora and fauna. Below, stone blocks and landscaping loosely define a gathering space under the net. On the hillside, a series of ramps and a steel bridge provide a fully accessible path between the two levels.
The Tree House is open to the elements and engages all the senses — the sun provides warmth in the winter, leaves offer shade in the summer, the wind moves through. It carves out an elevated, occupiable void in the forest — as the canopy densifies over the years, the space will be defined more by the surrounding trees than the structure itself. A vertical lattice of rebar forms a reed-like enclosure, participating in the shadow play of the forest.
