Diverse Woodlands

Crawl Through Log

Klamath Basin history comes alive at the Klamath County Museum in Oregon. The former armory was built in 1932 and features art deco elements. It was a popular venue for major musicians and groups in the 1940′s and 50′s. The displays include Indian artifacts and dioramas, taxidermy birds, relics from pioneer days and classic photographs of life a century-ago in Klamath County.

Recently NatureMaker installed eight trees at the museum for the “Forests for Everyone – Klamath’s Living Legacy,” the theme of a major new exhibit that just opened in March of 2010. With the help of NatureMaker Steel Art Trees, the new 1,700 square foot exhibit explores the diverse woodlands that are found across Klamath County’s rugged landscape. Included in the exhibit are five Ponderosa Pine trees of various heights and widths, one Cedar and Aspen tree and one crawl-through Douglas Fir hollow log which gives youngsters a chance to discover what animals can be found in downed trees.  Check out photos of the exhibit here.

Lemon Grove Restaurant

Blickenstaff's Toy Store

One of NatureMaker’s recent projects is the installation of various trees at the The Shops at Riverwoods, a lifestyle center, in Provo, Utah. Riverwoods’ new ownership have embarked on a makeover aimed at improving entertainment and pedestrian appeal for the 12-year-old high-end development in Provo, Utah. Read press release here

Part of the upgrading of the Center include two new restaurants, a toy store, and a family fun center. These leading edge establishments chose to include NatureMaker Steel Art Trees to enhance the visual aesthetics and add value to customer experience.

The Steel Art Trees installed include:

• Lemon Grove Restaurant – Lemon Grove, a French style bistro commissioned six 12’ tall  X 15’ canopy diameter lemon trees to reflect the theme of the restaurant as well as create a pleasant outdoor/indoor dining experience.

• Malawi Pizza – Malawi Pizza commissioned one 12’ tall  X 18’ canopy diameter Acacia tree evocative of the vast open African savannah.

• Family Fun Center – The family fun center, still under development, is a 50,000-square-foot entertainment center aimed at families and college-age students, as well as younger people. The entertainment center will include two 13’ tall coconut palm trees and a 14’ tall walk-through Redwood trunk in the indoor miniature golf course.

• Blickenstaff’s – This vintage toy and candy store commissioned a 12’ tall  X 12’ canopy diameter oak tree as a focal point to its ever-changing merchandise mix. The expansive tree canopy welcomes children and their parents.

Recently NatureMaker^® completed an installation at the new Collingwood Public Library in Ontario, Canada. After more than a decade of wishing, planning, detours and controversies, the library finally opened on April 6^th with people lined up before the doors opened. The three-story, 30,000-square-foot building consists of two library floors, a third floor to house municipal offices, a recording studio and meeting space and will be topped by a green roof. The project is pursuing a Gold Level LEED certification which would make it only the second library in Canada to achieve that status.

At the entrance to the children’s reading room stand two 12’ tall column clad oak Steel Art Trees^™. In addition there is one 9’ tall oak trunk mounted in the corner of the story time nook. NatureMaker Steel Art Trees help contribute to the LEED certification due to the fact that the trees produced use 75 percent recycled steel and other renewable materials. In addition, both the odorless and non toxic composite bark and the water-based paint contain no VOCs. According to Alicia Kilgour, the Children and Teens Services Supervisor, “We really wanted to create a magical space for children and I really feel that the trees have allowed us to do this.”

Opening next year, the Children’s Museum of Naples will be “an exciting, inspiring environment where children and their families play, learn and dream together.” The 30,000-square-foot museum will feature ten spectacularly designed, child-scaled exhibits to invite sensory and intellectual exploration. The heartbeat of the museum will be the Banyan Tree exhibit. NatureMaker was commissioned to design and build the 30’ tall x 45’ canopy diameter naturalistic banyan tree. The tree will also incorporate a clubhouse (an element that will be provided by outside vendors).

The main goal of the Banyan Tree exhibit is to inspire children to actively explore the environment, coordinate and challenge their bodies as they move through space, investigate sounds, smells and sights of the natural world, cooperate with other visitors as they share space, use their imaginations to play out both familiar and unfamiliar roles and experiences and engage in play patterns that facilitate invention, creativity, leadership, and cooperation.

To learn more about NatureMaker’s museum projects visit us at one of the following shows this spring:

ACM’s InterActivity – May 7, 2010, St. Paul, MN, Booth 33

AAM’s Annual Meeting & MusuemExpo – May 24-26, 2010, Los Angeles Convention Center, Booth 735

NatureMaker recently attended the InspireDesign show, the inaugural hospitality design trade show hosted by Las Vegas World Market and sponsored by Interior Design. Topping off the show’s events, the magazine recognized the best and brightest in new products with the show’s first annual Design Excellence Awards.

A panel of esteemed judges strolled the floor of exhibitors with discerning eyes and selected their top picks that showed excellence in any of the following categories: general design, presentation, sustainability, technology and innovation.

NatureMaker happily accepted the award for the sustainability category. Click here for more information on how NatureMaker is helping meet sustainable goals.

Founded in 1911, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital is one of Georgia’s largest comprehensive regional medical centers. Located in Albany, GA, Phoebe’s goal has been to bring the finest medical talent and technology to the citizens of Southwest GA.

As part of Phoebe’s continuing expansion, NatureMaker was commissioned to create a native oak tree, 17′ tall  X  16′ canopy diameter, the centerpiece of its newest state-of-the-art outpatient center. The live oak tree perfectly encapsulates the majestic trees that surround the facility.

When landscape architects, Grissim Metz Andriese Associates, Inc., were selected by William Beaumont Hospital in a design competition to create healing gardens in the interior atrium of the new South Tower addition in Royal Oak, Michigan, the result is a multi-sensory environment for patients, families, and staff that captures the essence of a verdant maple grove at its peak.

Designing an enclosed garden or park with the feel of the outdoors in the middle of one of America’s largest hospitals poses a number of challenges. The large scale of the atrium – 200 by 80 feet overall with a 75 foot high skylight ceiling – requires landscape elements to correspond in scale with the massive volume of the space. Structural load requirements make heavy soil loads for trees prohibitive. In addition, meeting imperatives for indoor air quality and maintainability in a health-care environment is critical. Logistically, living trees of similar scale would have to be craned into the 6^th floor atrium space through the roof, which probably would have involved removing the vaulted glass skylight entirely.

Part of the solution included commissioning NatureMaker to install seven 25’ tall x 17’ wide Steel Art Maple Trees. Canopies were conceived to represent typical growth patterns from mid-summer through late fall, with corresponding placement of green, “turning”, and brilliant, autumnal-colored leaves.

Many important architectural and design considerations were addressed, including:

• The grove of maple trees reduces the ceiling height in an expansive multi-story atrium to human scale and provides filtered shade from the skylight.

• NatureMaker trees require minimal maintenance (removal of surface dust from the foliage only), produce no bugs, bacteria, germs, or molds.

• The weight bearing load of each NatureMaker tree is far lower than a native tree of the same size. No special soils and grow lights are required. No structural reinforcement is required for the floor, especially given the trees’ placement on Level 6 of the Tower.

• NatureMaker trees are composed of recycled and renewable materials containing no VOCs. Structural, building, and fire codes are addressed at the beginning of the project with NatureMaker’s submittals of engineering, MSDS, and ASTM E 84 Class One Fire and Smoke Certification.

The maple grove creates a comforting oasis within a busy hospital setting and offers a peaceful, meditative retreat for those dealing with illness and tragedy.

Savannah, GA’s Live Oak Public Library system recently opened its newest, state-of-the-art branch on the south side (Southwest Chatham) of the historic city. The library, Chatham County’s first to open in twenty years, is also its first LEED registered building. At 50,000 square feet, the southwest Chatham branch is the second largest library in the system. Watch video

In its effort to create a magical place for families to explore lifetime learning together in a welcoming environment, the library commissioned NatureMaker to create its first “Giving Tree” around a prominent structural column in the children’s department. Befitting the library’s moniker, as well as the region’s most famous tree, NatureMaker spent months researching the nuances of the live oak tree, including a detailed study of the bark texture, growth patterns, characteristics and so-called “imperfections.”

The structural column measures 10’ tall. NatureMaker’s design intent was to create the forced perspective of the oak tree growing beyond the first floor ceiling, as if the library had “preserved” a specimen tree on its property and built the children’s reading room around it. The intricate canopy of limbs, branches and foliage extends around 18’, providing a warm, nurturing ambiance that encourages reading and story telling under the mythical tree. Additional touches of whimsy and realism include Spanish moss that is seamlessly growing from some of the tree branches. The oak tree not only adds a decorative function to the column, it also creates a central focal point and meeting place for the children. The authentic look and feel of the trunk conveys a sense of “awe” that invites touch, close examination and sense of well-being.

Commemorative leaves are available to be added to the tree as an exceptional gift opportunity to honor and remember special friends of the library.

Live Oak Public Library’s architect, Greenline Architecture of Savannah, developed the original concept for the oak tree.

From concept through completion of installation, the project spanned almost two years. The custom handcrafting of the tree started in late 2008, on schedule for the library’s October 2009 grand opening.

In the past month, the library has been a major success for the community, generating widespread public interest and acclaim, as well as overflow crowds of library lovers young and old. Plans are now in the works for two new branch libraries.

This past year NatureMaker teamed with architecture firm, CSHQA, the Fresno Yosemite International Airport and the National Park Service to produce a unique environment for the Fresno’s air travelers. Read magazine article or watch video 

As Fresno’s population base continues to grow, so has the need for more comprehensive air service. FYI was therefore tasked to improve its terminal facility to serve the projected needs of its domestic and international travelers for the next twenty years. Rather than settling for a conventional Terminal remodel and expansion, the Airport sought to integrate the nearby, world renowned natural attractions into its design. In presenting itself as “The Gateway City to Three National Parks”, both Fresno and its Airport would attain national and international stature. “The Sense of Place” project, as envisioned by FYI, was intended to create a memorable experience for its passengers that would attract more airlines, increase the number of daily flights, boost regional tourism, and improve the city’s image.

NatureMaker’s contribution includes a series of 25’ tall sequoia trees, growing from floor to skylight, that not only wrap the columns, but also create the most immediate visual impact. A walk-through sequoia, cladding two of the columns, is evocative of the famous Wawona Tree in Yosemite’s Mariposa Grove. The adjacent smaller sequoia, pine, and fir trees, coupled with fallen logs, tree stumps, charred trunks, and ground forms, fully capture the essential tranquility and persistence of life in the High Sierra. Read full case study 

NatureMaker had completed an installation of two-story outdoor pine trees at the Los Angeles Zoo over a year ago. The trees were originally intended for four Chinese golden monkeys to perch, climb, and swing. However, after years of waiting for the exotic animals, the Zoo director was informed earlier this year that, after a long period of intensive negotiations with the Chinese government, the transfer would not take place. With the Golden Monkey exhibit already completed, The Zoo was then forced to go with Plan B, a mixed-species habitat.

The news was especially disappointing for the Zoo because they took great pains to customize the exhibit to the monkey’s exacting tastes. The exhibit designer, Portico Group, designed the exhibit to evoke their Chinese heritage (a viewing platform with Chinese-style tiling was installed, for example) and commissioned NatureMaker to design special trees with extra springy limbs to encourage the monkeys to climb and jump from tree to tree. NatureMaker’s complete installation included five (5) 20′ – 28′ tall outdoor pine trees with 6′ -15′ long perching limbs. The pine trees were designed and engineered to blend in with the surrounding live evergreen trees.

The new exhibit opens on Thursday, October 8, 2009.