Hooke Park is a 142 hectare woodland in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...

located near the town of

Beaminster Beaminster ( ) is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated in the Dorset Council administrative area approximately northwest of the county town Dorchester. It is sited in a bowl-shaped valley near the source of the small River ...

and within the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The site is designated as

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...

and historically comprised a deer hunting estate. An educational campus is located at Hooke Park that was developed by the Parnham Trust following its purchase of the site in 1983. Led by furniture designer

John Makepeace John Makepeace OBE FCSD (born John Makepeace Smith; 6 July 1939) is a British furniture designer and maker. Makepeace was born in Solihull, Warwickshire. He bought Parnham House, Dorset in 1976 and founded the Parnham Trust and the ''School for ...

a School of Woodland Industries was established that aimed to "research, demonstrate and teach the better use of forest produce". The campus buildings demonstrate experimental timber construction techniques and include works by the late 2015

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international architecture award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produ ...

laureate

Frei Otto Frei Paul Otto (; 31 May 1925 – 9 March 2015) was a German architect and structural engineer noted for his use of lightweight structures, in particular tensile and membrane structures, including the roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich for ...

Edward Cullinan Edward Horder Cullinan HonFRIAS (17 July 1931 – 11 November 2019) was an English architect. Life Born in central London to Joy, an artist mother, and Edward, a doctor, Cullinan was educated at Ampleforth College, Queens' College, Cambri ...

and

ABK Architects __NOTOC__ ABK Architects (previously Ahrends, Burton and Koralek) is a British architectural practice. It was founded in 1961 by Peter Ahrends (born 1933, Berlin, Germany), Richard Burton (born 1933 in London, United Kingdom, died 2017), and Paul ...

. In 2002 ownership of Hooke Park was transferred to the

Architectural Association School of Architecture The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in t ...

who use the site for visiting and residential courses, including programmes in which students design and construct new campus buildings. The Hooke Park woodland is renowned locally for its spring bluebells and is accessible through public rights-of-way. The estate's forestry is managed with the aim of researching new architectural applications for home-grown timbers.

References

External links

Architectural Association Hooke Park website
{{coord, 50.792, -2.679, type:landmark_region:GB_dim:3000, display=title Forests and woodlands of Dorset Architecture schools in England