The Cocohut

 

The Cocohut is a project which fuses my interests in art, design and architecture. It is a self initiated project that evolved over a few months. I had the urge to build something out of the waste products that were coming of a large project. A ‘green’ theater and restaurant and play area building of 1400 mtr2 which I designed and build for a small amusement park in the centre of holland. I always to look for the material that other people find insignificant or worthless and try to create something new out of it. (As an example for the same philosophy on product design, I made the potato chair, based on an ordinary potato.)

So I started to try to create something out of the waste pieces of lumber that came of the build. When I saw the possibilities I started sketching and came up with this round shaped , which became a  small house. Putting it of the ground, by implementing the poles, lets the structure somehow seem light and easy and friendly but...not ordinary. Over the next few months I collected all the useful pieces and finally I had enough to start building.

Although the Cocohut looks like a geometrical and calculated shape, it is not. Only the first few pieces are in a hexagram, but it soon turned out that the rounded shape forced me to add an angle and later remove it again. The pieces are screwed and glued together so that the structure remains waterproof. The rounded shape added also an extra; the circulation of the air makes it very comfortable to sit in even when its hot outside,

The Cocohut is build of waste pieces of construction wood (pine).The dimensions are: 180 cm wide and including the poles 220 cm high. A environmental friendly varnish is applied on the outside for color and durability. The top cone is made of a leftover piece of aluminimum, same as the door.