Woodland + Interpretation
Woodland Resource Centre – Lews Castle grounds – Stornoway - Isle of Lewis
A place to step away from the noise
This Pavilion was created as part of a wider strategy to find sustainable uses for Lews Castle and its grounds. It involved construction of new timber milling facilities further up stream on the Shoe Burn over which the building sits.
Facilities that allowed for the processing of the estate trees that were used in the construction of the building, built in house by the client organisation – The Stornoway Trust.
The Woodland Centre was devised to sit as a Lantern over the harbour from the town and an invitation to visit, enjoy and engage with Charles Wilson’s Castle and its Woodland held in Trust for the people of Stornoway. It provides a place for the people of Stornoway to step away from the noise and where visitors could learn about and contribute to, this rare mature Hebridean woodland and nature.
First gallery
Larch and Douglas fir frame
Having pealed back the layers of time to uncover the stone remains of an 18th Century Mill and a brick culvert once focusing the Burns power to a wheel, we tailored an expressed Larch and Douglas Fir frame that would speak throughout its construction and completion, of the woodland setting.
Approached from the town the legible presentation offers easily accessible entry to café, toilet, exhibition + function spaces and opens up to a covered external seating area. Approaches from the north and the network of paths and other buildings are via a bridge to the upper level, where changing, office and educational facilities are found.
As it now sits over the Shoe Burn – “Allt Nam Brog” it speaks of a threshold between town and landscape .. where once upon a time – Crofters having crossed the burn would put on their Brogues… before approaching the town.
“The process of creating this building and its quiet established presence has allowed for things held In Trust to be better understood, appreciated and managed.” Colin Macaulay
Second gallery
