A team of students and researchers from Barcelona's Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia has built a hillside timber pavilion with hanging walkways nestled in the trees.
Called FLORA, an acronym for Forest Lab for Observational Research and Analysis, the pavilion is a scientific facility that will allow a researcher to live and work in the forest canopy.
FLORA was designed by Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Led by course directors Daniel Ibáñez and Vicente Guallart, the installation was developed by a team of students and researchers of the Masters in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities (MAEBB) programme at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC).
"The project seeks to be immersed within nature and to create an ecological interactive prototype," the IAAC told Dezeen. It is a scientific facility
The pavilion was built on the grounds of the IAAC's Valldaura Labs in the Collserola Natural Park in Barcelona, which has over 1,000 species of plants and ten billion trees.
FLORA allows a researcher to study local biodiversity and how the effects of climate change are influencing the natural park.
The pavilion is made from mass timber processed by the students and researchers on site. Built from invasive pine trees sourced within the park, the project had a philosophy of "zero-kilometre materials".
It is constructed from timber
"The primary building material is timber, obtained from the surroundings,...