Team: Christopher Romano (project lead), Randy Fernando, Michael Hoover, Lukas Fetzko, Steph Cramer, Julia Hunt, Wade Georgi, Erica Fredes

HEM ● LOCK is a 120 SF (12.36 ft diameter) circular mass-timber platform designed as a lightweight, elevated public structure integrated directly into the landscape at Bethel Woods, New York. The project investigates the architectural role of the platform as both an infrastructural element and a social surface for gathering, rest, and performance.

The structure is fabricated from locally sourced Eastern Hemlock logs harvested within four miles of the site and repurposed from forestry waste. Logs are horizontally aggregated into a solid timber disk and joined using a custom self-locking conical “HEM joint,” a robotic reinterpretation of traditional dovetail joinery. This system minimizes the need for adhesives and mechanical fasteners while enabling precise, repeatable assembly through digital fabrication.

Two circular voids are carved through the platform to accommodate an existing tree and a central fire feature, integrating ecological and cultural programmatic elements directly into the structure.

The platform is supported by three limestone boulders native to the site. These stones were 3D scanned using LiDAR, digitally modeled, and milled with robotic fabrication to create matching bearing surfaces that precisely receive the timber structure. This process allowed the platform to be mechanically locked into place through geometry rather than conventional foundations, reducing site disturbance and material consumption.

HEM ● LOCK demonstrates an approach to sustainable construction that combines local material sourcing, robotic fabrication, computational design, and reversible assembly. The project proposes a model for circular construction systems that integrate structural performance, cultural use, and environmental context.