Studio Weave’s pavilion in London is built to the rear of an existing Edwardian brick library, this single-storey, timber-framed extension provides an open plan café and flexible spaces for individual, community and group activities. Source: Timberbiz
Inside, a rich variety of wood salvaged from trees felled across the parks, streets and gardens of London forms the joinery and furniture.
The architects worked closely with local furniture maker Sebastian Cox to design a continuous wall of fluted timber panelling that connects shelving with built-in seating. Cox also designed and made custom desks, collapsible tables, stackable chairs and upholstered sofas for the pavilion.
Overall, 25 cubic metres of salvaged wood was used for fitted and loose furniture, from species including London plane, poplar, sycamore, ash, Holm oak, Turkey oak, sequoia and horse chestnut.
The wood was sourced, milled, and planed with the help of Fallen & Felled – a London-based timber company set up to reduce wastage of fallen trees in the capital. Fallen & Felled, is a timber company pioneering a sustainable alternative.
Thousands of mature trees are felled in London every year, and most are simply chipped and burned. Fallen & Felled repurposes felled urban trees into hardwood timber for furniture makers, architects and designers.
It keeps tonnes of carbon out of the atmosphere and reduces the UK’s reliance on imported hardwood. More than 90% of hardwood used in the UK is imported.
And yet every year, thousands of perfectly usable trees are felled in London. Almost all of them are chipped and burned for firewood or biomass fuel for power stations.
So Fallen & Felled instead mills these trees into boards and seasons them for more than 12 months to transform them into furniture-grade hardwood timber. They also source some popular English species – including oak and ash which are less common in the capital from woodlands outside London.
This timber is used by furniture makers, architects, designers and enthusiasts.
Extracting huge trees from tiny London streets; persuading busy people to change how they dispose of trees; and milling timber that’s sometimes full of nails, shrapnel and worse is challenging.
Despite the challenges, the company says it is excited to be a part of the ‘circular economy’, finding ways to recycle and add value to things our society has become used to throwing away.
The company never fells trees and only use trees that perhaps have died of old age, or have been felled to make way a city development.
The company has a shop in London as its main public-facing site, but there is also a timber store in Essex, just outside the M25 which is the timber warehouse behind the scenes. It’s on the same site that the wood is mill, air- and kiln-dry.
