ARC395H1 S / ARC2095H S
Title: Observing and Using a Tree in the City
Instructor: Zachary Mollica
Meeting Section: P0101
Summer 2023
Toronto Dates: July 18 - August 1, 2023

How much do we know about the wood we get from trees?

Working together – hands-on – over two weeks, students joining the @UsingTrees design-build studio will become intimately familiar with a single tree. We’ll learn to observe and describe it in writing, to document its geometric forms by 3D scanning, to work with experts involved in its harvest and breaking down, and to design and make in response to the inherent properties of the pieces we receive. Process is the priority.

Technologically, we will move constantly between new and old methods, learning both to 3D scan whole trees with our cameras (photogrammetry), as well as to use and maintain a range of traditional woodworking tools (chisels, planes, etc). You will learn to combine these tools nimbly, and by this to invent your own processes for projects ahead.

We will work towards a few connected outputs over the program’s two weeks. As a full group, we will measure and describe in large point cloud drawings the whole of a tree. Individually, you will make a number of small artefacts with branches in order to learn the tools. Then, in groups of 3-5 (mixed grad + undergrad), you will design and produce ambitious roundwood artefacts that together will make up a larger installation to remain semi-permanently at the Daniels Building.

*Students applying to the Using Trees studio should have some experience working in the Daniels wood workshop (inc. training on use and machinery).