Thinking Outside the "Box"
The majority of woodworkers are glorified box makers--creating everything from cabinets to wall units--and most of what we build for the home can be simplified to some sort of box. This is only natural as we live in houses with flat walls and square corners: our furniture needs to fit nicely within our living space.
Tom Chudleigh--of Free Spirit Spheres--stands out from the crowd in this regard. He has taken his boat building experience to build these novel creations he calls Spheres.
At 10 1/2 feet in diameter, these habitable structures are hung in trees to become magnificent treehouses.
"Spherical architecture has many new features. Conventional buildings separate walls, ceiling and floor with hard lines and often color and material changes. In a sphere the walls and ceiling merge into one. The function changes but the form remains the same. It is a unified structure with one continuous wall. I call it uniwall construction. There are only 2 sides to a sphere: inside and outside" - Tom Chudleigh
The Importance of Inspiration
We all could take a bit of inspiration from Tom's work. Too often we build
the same conventional works, reproducing from plans that others have designed.
As woodworkers, we are builders, we are designers, but ultimately we are creators. We have a hand in building the environments in which we live in. Perhaps we cannot go to the extent that Tom has gone, but his work can still inspire us when we start thinking about our next project.
