Philip Heaphy, Treehouse (STUDENT 2024)

Student:

Tertiary

Name of school or tertiary institution, name of woodworking teacher (if you have one), and name of photographer:

IIT Melbourne

Video tour:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12nfxIuwxDTPswTIT0Y7jipfP0m5afrkq/view?usp=drivesdk

Treehouse The design was inspired by my daughter asking for a treehouse, with renting a home we didn’t have a tree to build a treehouse, so I decided to create a piece for her playroom. Inspired by the Japanese style of building and burning of wood I created my own tree, and incorporated many different techniques and building methods to create a design that was bold eye catching and amazingly sturdy, this wasn’t easy using only a singular trunk as the base of a cabinet standing 2270mm high and 1900mm at the widest. But with the understanding I’ve gained from years in the building industry I was able to construct something with minimal screws. I used the basis of the mortise and tenon joint but used dowels instead. The construction has 8 levels with each having 300mm or more of shelf space. The timber is burned up to 10 times and cleaned with a wire brush to highlight the grain. It was then coated with Tung oil and burnt and cleaned again before a final coats of Tung oil and left for 1 month. Then varnished. The cabinet top and tree canopy was burnt many times and wire brushed to create grooves in the grain which was layered with expoxy of different mixes to give the effect of the different colours of grass and the tree leaves. Many colours were used and can’t truly be appreciated unless seen in the flesh, similar to the branches and trunks of the tree. The treehouse is the top level with similar methods to modern construction but with dowels as the construction members. The roof is to resemble a thatched or cabana roof in tropical islands using potting plants bedding to keep the overall weight down for more toys can fit on it. The treehouse has also a funny aspect that if you look closely it shows a face. I was also able to pullout some whale faces in the grain of the timber through burning To summarise the build, which was a pleasure to build and I hope it is for you to review and judge, it was built with love and a wish from my daughters to create there dreams which as parents we hope to provide. It’s a tree from roots and foundations up, that conveys the ability of wood, glue, minimal screws, showing life in its greatest and how nature provides us with everything we need for life and sustainability.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.