I have spent many days at the Woodlands now, in both summer and winter, beautiful weather and quite foul. It is a naturally unique place, full of slopes and nooks and crannies — but mostly, full of trees.
I have observed children play there and have seen them thrill to interact with the site — I have been touched by how many people have remarked to me about the special and almost magical nature it has.
I awoke my first morning there to find a dappled green light and a fierce gusting in the
Existing Magical Woodland Setting
branches. I found my mind conjuring things from children’s literature such as secret gardens and woodland sprites, or Toad, of Toad Hall. In this harkening back to childhood, the Woodlands is reminiscent for me of many of my own experiences growing up in northern British Columbia.
I am reminded of what it is like to discover a completely new realm and to find those rare moments of quietude beneath the trees, when the forest confronts us on a personal level, showing us a beauty impossible in its absence.
I believe this ability nature has to deeply affect us is the great treasure and opportunity of the Woodlands site. A focus of my work has long been mediating between indoors and out, and conceiving of architecture in such a way that it develops a profound and lasting interaction with the nature surrounding it.
Joel Turkel
Turkel Design
Preliminary Architect's Sketch