This timber canopy forms an outdoor venue occupying a disused industrial recycling yard in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. Brothers Hugh and Howard Miller, a furniture maker and an architect, collaborated on the design and making of this project which went from initial idea to opening in just over three months.
Inspiration for the design comes from the remaining gables of a burnt-out warehouse that form a backdrop, reflecting the pitches in the profile of the canopy. The structure is supported by a set of 10 ‘quadrapods’ – doubled A-frame supports – made from green oak. Each one incorporates a table or bench as well as supporting the load of the canopy via glulam beams, which project from the roof to form a wing-shaped rain spout. polypropylene reusable bags
Green oak furniture, conceived as a set of tessellating components, populates the courtyard garden, along with planted one-tonne builders’ bags which are designed to be easily movable. The judges were impressed by the boldness of the scheme, the attention to detail and the iterative model making in this imaginative project, which was a real labour of love.
Location: Liverpool Architect: Howard Miller Design Structural engineer: Materian Main contractor/builder: Hugh Miller Furniture Joinery: Hugh Miller Furniture Wood supplier: Materian Client/owner: Constellations Timber: Welsh green oak, TR26 softwood roofing timber, OSB3 boards, Norwegian spruce glulam beams
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