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Architects: Invisible Studio, Mole Architects
- Area: 745 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:David Butler
Text description provided by the architects. The arrival of The Big Roof – a new low-carbon, low-energy storage and training center in the Cambridgeshire Fens – has been transformational for Forest School Camps (FSC), improving operations of the nationwide volunteer-run charity that provides educational camps for children.
The single-story, 745m² multipurpose building, designed by Mole Architects and Invisible Studio, replaces three buildings in various states of disrepair incorporating storage, repair bays, cooking, eating and teaching space under one roof, creating a central hub for the grass-roots charity.
Forest School Camps was started by former pupils from the Forest School in the New Forest in 1947; in 1978 FSC purchased this land in Haddenham to serve as a base, where they planted wood and made a campsite alongside the agricultural sheds that served as the Stores. Dedicated volunteers run summer camps and shorter weekend camps during the year to help children gain life and social skills, and to learn by doing. Many of the volunteers have grown up within the organization, and have developed lifelong bonds with FSC.
The undertaking for a volunteer charitable organization was significant, and the brief was ambitious. The cost of the building exceeded the available funds, yet FSC supporters and members rallied to the challenge and raised what was needed to complete the robust, low- maintenance community building which demonstrates generous simplicity. Every stage of the project – from design to completion – has contributed to a sense of belonging and identity and supported community resilience. The Big Roof’s design, natural material palette and focus on shared activities perfectly reflect the ethos of the FSC: democratic, inclusive, communal.
The energy-efficient building, which stands on an exposed site, is clad entirely in black corrugated fiber cement, with translucent fiberglass for doors and roof lights giving abundant interior light. The resource-efficient design minimizes the use of steel and maximizes natural materials. The timber frame structure is clad in cement fiber corrugated sheets and sits above the ground on a robust concrete beam and block floor; the structure has 15m span trusses and forms a central 7m-high tent bay called ‘the lantern’, with louvers for ventilation, which is used for hanging tents to dry. With concrete screed floors, sheet linoleum flooring and ply linings, the main storage spaces are minimally designed, and they are complemented by collective spaces that are insulated (with recycled newspaper) and heated for comfort, including a kitchen, dining area, workspaces for crucial repair and maintenance work, and a flexible, discrete space for running training sessions. The design ensures high levels of daylight, thus reducing the need for artificial light and allowing everyone to see what else is going on in the building.
The Big Roof fulfills an urgent need for storage space and provides approximately 400m² for camp equipment storage, where tents, cookware, clothing, sleeping bags and tools can now be efficiently cataloged once checked and repaired. The equipment is delivered to camping fields across the country, benefitting around 1,500 children; and the improved facilities enable FSC to run more camps (currently approximately 35 per year) and hold more of its training at the site.
The Big Roof has been oriented to face the evening sun and the campfire circle. Hardstanding around the perimeter of the building, a raised floor level and sliding doors allow for easy drop-off and loading. Volunteers camp in the woodland adjacent, planted by FSC as part of their long-term plan for the site. The community’s ethos is one of environmental stewardship, with a commitment to reducing its environmental footprint – minimal trees were removed in the construction of the new building.
The collective nature of The Big Roof extends to the design team, which brought together Mole Architects and Invisible Studio – with Charley Brentnall of Xylotek contributing to early proposals. Meredith Bowles (Mole) and Piers Taylor (Invisible Studio) have long collaborated on the Studio in the Woods summer workshops, where participants would camp for a long weekend’s timber construction program.
