Raised expectations
Planning and construction services on the Yellow Treehouse Restaurant were undertaken by NZ Strong
Responsibility for the pre-planning, programming, project engineering, methodology, subcontractor management and successful completion of the treehouse construction was the domain of NZ Strong. The brief was to provide planning and construction services to meet all design objectives on a very tight schedule.
As with any project involving radical concepts, NZ Strong Construction had to provide on-the-spot solutions to ensure everything stayed within time frame, says managing director Shane Brealey.
"The design was a freehand sketch at the outset and eight weeks later we delivered a functioning 30-seat restaurant 10m above the forest floor in a large redwood tree complete with all consents all while a sizeable and demanding film crew captured every moment," says Brealey. "The client team for Yellow and our team worked closely on problem solving. Decisions were made within minutes by coming together on site or over the phone rather than waiting for the next monthly meeting."
Essentially, the finished restaurant speaks for itself a startlingly modern design that gives new meaning to open-air dining. The structure is built from laminated curved timber sections, creating a birdcage, or cocoon form for the main restaurant pod, and milled redwood for the beams, walkway and balustrade sections. These materials, like the design itself, were selected to blend harmoniously with the breathtaking natural forest setting.
"Pre-planning was key to this project," says Brealey. "The curved timber beams for the exterior were all sequenced and numbered before arriving on site, and then constructed much like a jigsaw puzzle."
Another tricky element was attaching the four steel collars that provide the support for the restaurant.
"Steel spigots were used to attach the collars, and like many elements on this project we had to think outside the square to achieve this. Concrete drilling equipment was brought in to bore through the American redwood, requiring a precision tolerance of 5mm.
"The tight fit required to avoid any structural movement was typical of the whole project, where close team collaboration was vital to the project's completion."
For details, contact NZ Strong Construction, 108 Mt Eden Road, Auckland, phone (09) 630 7324, fax (09) 630 7326. Website: www.nzstrong.co.nz.
Story by: Trendsideas
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