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Playful, Modern Treehouses Perched on Stilts
January 22, 2016
Inspired by the traditional treehouse, each of these lofty, freestanding structures is perched on stilts to minimize disturbance to site.
To reduce impact at the site, architecture firm Baumraum prefabricated this treehouse in Belgium and craned it atop 19 steel columns, arranging it so that the surrounding trees’ roots wouldn’t be harmed. From within the structure, people experience a perspective that inspires more respect and consideration of the environment at large.
Originally appeared in A Modern Treehouse in Belgium
Armed with a set of instructions from her 13-year-old daughter, architectural designer Sharon Davis set to work on crafting an adolescent-friendly outbuilding on the family’s 30-acre property near Garrison, New York. The result, a small, steel structure with cedar siding, embodies all the important aspects of a tree house, without actually being in a tree. Davis strived to preserve the sense of adventure by elevating the two-level structure. Separated from the first level by a set of trap doors, the second level holds a fold-down desk and stool, and opens up toward views of the Hudson River Valley.
Photo by
Originally appeared in Kid-Friendly Treehouse in Upstate New York
The brainchild of a former British climate scientist, Simon Parfett, Bower House Construction takes a sophisticated, nature-first approach to custom treehouses. One of the models Parfett designs is the Tube, a slender room that can be built off site. Mellen says the company wants to do more "off-the-peg" designs like the Tube and Pod, to add more affordable and easily integrated models. Each tree house is assembled in pieces via sophisticated computer technology in a warehouse to maximize control and minimize waste and on-site disturbance.
Courtesy of
Bower House Construction
Originally appeared in Bespoke Treehouses Let You Live Above the Tree Line
Call it the ultimate adult treehouse: When an elderly couple residing in Tokyo asked architect Go Hasegawa to design a weekend retreat in the dense forest of Agatsuma-gun, he created a design that mimicked the surrounding tall, slender trees. The main living space floats 6.5 meters (roughly 21 feet) in midair and is supported by thin stilts, creating an outdoor patio beneath it.
Photo by
Originally appeared in Stilted Living
Rather than elevated on stilts, this treehouse hangs suspended from a series of ropes. Architect Sanei Hopkins elevated ths structure—dubbed the Flying Pigsty six feet off the ground with four ropes slung between two trees “because flying pigs cannot fly far from the ground, and they need good clearance when they come into land.” Entrance to the ten-foot-long, galvanized steel–and–scrap wood Flying Pigsty is via a ladder or rope at back. The entire project was completed over a long weekend for around $850.
Originally appeared in Where Pigs Fly
To reduce impact at the site, architecture firm Baumraum prefabricated this treehouse in Belgium and craned it atop 19 steel columns, arranging it so that the surrounding trees’ roots wouldn’t be harmed. From within the structure, people experience a perspective that inspires more respect and consideration of the environment at large.
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