Langley Vale Visitors Hub

As an addition to the Langley Vale woodland, the new visitor hub provides amenities for visitors and creates a welcoming and exciting connection to the woodland. Through materiality and considered design the Langley Vale Hub aims to engage with two aspects of significant site context, the surrounding woodland ecosystem and the impact of the First World War upon lives and landscape.

Our starting point was to assess the current and anticipated future woodland structure within Langley Vale Wood. By developing a Profile diagram we identified the presence and dominance of particular species within the stand and interpreted this information into the building façade. The relationship between the shade‐bearers (beech) and light‐demanders (oak) are determined by patterns of disturbances, high frequency but small scale, the results of which are a seemingly complex patchwork that has been applied to the façade through material selection and element position with the construction of the external walls.

In addition to the interpretation of woodland dynamics, reference has been made to the design of trenches during WW1 within the approach of the building. Large expanses of rammed earth and walls using techniques prominent in trench design will draw visitors into the historical context.