Cleveland Ohio | 2015 | Exhibition Installation

Reflects is a treehouse without trees located in the Cleveland Botanical Garden's "Secret Garden" courtyard. We saw this limitation as an opportunity to transform the treehouse it into a unique sculptural object. 

As a point of departure, the gabled house profile creates an iconic and memorable image. The house archetype floats above the surrounding walls. To create the “trees” that the house rests on and within, reflective surfaces are introduced, and the house profile is symmetrically mirrored down, creating a series periscopes that capture surrounding views, transforming them into a “Secret Forest” within the Secret Garden.  The abstract, planar, and porous architecture, in combination with the surface reflection, produces a variety of dynamic effects whether on the ground or above, outside or within, engaging everyone in the treehouse experience.

Constructed of a light steel frame and infill panels of laminated plywood, the composite system provides a minimal and low impact assembly. On site construction was minimized by prefabrication off-site, limiting disturbance to the Cleveland Botanical Garden grounds.

Photography by Scott Pease