The Hide

Unit 5 collaborated with Citizen Zoo and the Community Brain to design a new animal hide for the Moated Manor nature reserve in Tolworth. The site is owned by the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, comprising 2.7 hectares of meadow, scrub and woodland and is home to wide range of fauna.

The hide is perched on the bank of the pond, and gives the general public, schoolchildren and enthusiasts a privileged, but discreet, view of the surrounding wildlife.

The final design is a collaborative effort evolving from student research. The highly sustainable building sits lightly in the landscape and is supported on mini screw piles. Hay bales are used to construct the two interlocking circles which form the main structure. These are topped with timber trusses and a profiled, fibre cement sheet roof.

The hide was prefabricated in Kingston University’s workshop by students from Unit 5 and initially erected in the large build space. Its final placement on site was a further collaborative effort, led by 121 Collective.