Bus Stop Experiment

WarrenTyler? told me this story before he recalled ZenWindow...

There was a big old oak tree on the corner where students waited for the bus at the UniversityOfOregon?. So, when the architecture students built a bus stop shelter on the corner they went out of their way to incorporate the tree into their design. This made for an awful lot of trouble when they got to ChristopherAlexander's construction patterns because they didn't explain how to build the arch and pour concrete over it when there was a big old limb of an oak tree sticking through the roof.

But they were determined. With considerable experiment and invention they pulled it off. The tree even sorta looked like it belonged, except to the guy from physical plant who had come out to see the completed work. Seeing the trouble that the limb had caused, and wanting to help where he could, the old timer pulled out a chain saw and cut down the limb so that the students could get on with finishing their roof.

Building a structure around a tree sounds like planned obsolescence. After all, the tree will grow, and the structure will either kill the tree, or be broken. Is planned obsolescence supposed to be desirable in architecture?

But in the case of a bus stop, is it really a problem? A bus stop isn't a cathedral; replacing it, when the time comes, shouldn't be too expensive. And how quickly does an old oak tree grow?

At any rate, "planned obsolescence" might not be the most apt phrase here. It isn't as if the builders went out of their way to guarantee the structure's obsolescence; they simply refused to take what they considered unusual measures - cutting down a big old tree - to extend the life of their structures. Whether you think such a trade-off is worth it is largely related to how much you like big old trees.

Was this a lost opportunity? A bus stop that has to be replaced every few years could be an inexpensive testbed for architectural experiments. Imagine if every few years, the current crop of architectural students has to redesign & build the bus stop, then observe whether their design is successful. The students gain practical experience, while the architectural school as a whole gains an every-growing body of design lore. -- AnonymousDonor

At FallingWater (which I love, despite the following story), there is a small tree around the back side of the main building, which was apparently a sapling when the house was built. Above it there is a support beam. At what one assumes to be considerable difficulty, a semicircle-shaped bend was put in the beam, clearly to allow the tree to grow. Unfortunately the tree failed to grow toward the bend, and the current owners are talking of removing it (the tree) before it does damage. Wright probably never knew what became of this effort. Find your own moral. -- DanielKnapp

There are ways for making a tree grow in a certain direction. It's probably too late now. Remove the tree, plant another one, guide it into the desired direction. Moral: this can be fixed. -- StephanHouben

: "New College in Oxford had a problem with the beams in its 14th century dining hall. After 400 years beetles had weakened the beams and they had to be replaced. The caretaker of the college went to the groundskeepers wondering where beams of this caliber could found. "You must be from New College, we have been expecting you", the groundskeeper replied. These sturdy oaks we have been told, from previous generations, are for the New College hall. They were planted at time the dining hall was built; the architect expected they would some day need replacing."

This story was printed in the CoEvolution Quarterly, a publication of the WholeEarthCatalog. StewartBrand, the catalog's editor (publisher?), also used it in his book HowBuildingsLearn. Another telling can be found at http://beebo.org/smackerels/new-college.html.

OMG ... I had my version of the "oaken beams and old trees" story come to mind part way down this page and was considering adding it ... and there it is! --BenTremblay

But New College dismisses the facts of the story (I still like it): http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/archives/trivia.html.