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15 (More) Amazing Tree Houses from Around the World

by Steph on June 23rd, 2008

(Check out our complete collection of Green Art, Design and Technology.)

Amazing tree houses aren’t just for children anymore - in fact, some are so well made and carefully detailed, they rival most people’s homes. The artistry and innovation put into some tree house designs and plans elevates them from fun getaways to architectural wonders. They arere located all over the world, from just north of NYC to the rain forests of Costa Rica. These fifteen incredible tree houses might just make you want to leave your own home for a loftier living space.

German cooperative baumraum offers fully customizable tree houses made primarily of wood and rope, with clean, modern lines that defy the traditional assumptions about what tree houses should look like. The tree houses above were commissioned by clients in Austria and New York, respectively, and were built to suit the individual sites with the intent of disturbing the surroundings as little as possible.

The interactive Steampunk Tree House is a movable work of art created by over 60 San Francisco area artists, crafted in part from recycled and reclaimed materials. It has traveled to the Stagecoach and Coachella music festivals and has been featured on BoingBoing TV. The 30′tall, 8-ton tree was “made to explore the relationship between our rapidly changing natural world and the persistent human drive to connect with it and one another.”

The Biosphere Tree house is situated in a great Indian banyan in the Manoa Valley of Oahu. This seven-level tree house has transparent roofs, electricity, a composting toilet, hanging bridge and stunning views of the valley and the sea beyond Waikiki. A 7-foot steel “star dome” swings above a pool in the stream at the foot of the tree.

The three tree houses above were created by Blueforest, a UK-based company offering full design, consultancy and management services for tree house projects across Europe. Blueforest’s adult-size tree houses start at around $15,000 and many have kitchenettes, bathrooms and full-sized living rooms. Some even include high-tech features like fingerprint locks, CCTV control centers and plasma televisions.

The Alnwick Garden tree house is one of the largest wooden tree houses in the world at 6,000 square feet. Inside is a learning center, restaurant complete with fireplace, play areas, turrets and rope bridges. The tree house was built using natural materials from sustainable resources including Canadian cedar, Scandinavian Redwood and Scots pine. The Alnwick garden is a public garden space in Northumberland, England.

These two relaxed yet highly functional tree houses are part of the Finca Bella Vista tree house community in the rainforest of Costa Rica. The community is home to ecologically minded adventurers wishing to preserve the 300 acres of rainforest surrounding their homes. Its residents enjoy hydroelectric and solar power and wi-fi internet, and have biodigestors to process waste. Dozens of land parcels are still available for future residents to design and build their own tree houses.

Romero Studios, helmed by Roderick and Anisa Romero, designs and creates tree houses so striking they look more like art installations than dwellings. Their work includes one of the tree houses at Finca Bella Vista and the four tree houses pictured above, among many others. Clients have the freedom to create the tree house of their dreams, from Moroccan lantern-shapes and suspended ‘nests’ to rustic cabins in the sky. Special touches include built-in storage and stained glass windows.

AMAZING GREEN ROOF ART SCHOOL IN S'PORE

Amazing Green Roof Art School in Singapore

by Ali Kriscenski

If art school was in our future we might opt to study under, or on top of, the amazing green roof at the School of Art, Design and Media at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. This 5 story facility sweeps a wooded corner of the campus with an organic, vegetated form that blends landscape and structure, nature and high-tech and symbolizes the creativity it houses.

The glass façade provides a high performance building envelope that reduces solar gain and heat load while allowing the benefits of natural views and daylight into creative spaces. The glass walls provide a visual exchange between indoors and out allowing students and teachers to experience the building, the surrounding landscape and the interior plaza as fluid spaces. Diffused natural daylight is abundant throughout studios and classrooms, filtered through the surrounding foliage.

The curving green roofs distinguish the building from among the other structures on campus but the line between landscape and building is blurred. The roofs serve as informal gathering spaces challenging linear ideas and stirring perception. The roofs create open space, insulate the building, cool the surrounding air and harvest rainwater for landscaping irrigation. Planted grasses mix with native greenery to colonize the building and bond it to the setting.

Finishes are intentionally raw to act as a backdrop for the art, media and design projects. Concrete walls and columns, cement-sand screeded floors, timber railings and a neutral palette define the interior spaces which vary in shape and size. This amazing design seems to offer a new experience at every elevation or perspective fulfilling the intent that a school for art should inspire creativity.

+ CPG Consultants + Nanyang Technical University + Design Share Honor Award 2007

Via DesignFlute