Tuesday 22 September 2009

Living in a treehouse - an ultimate life challenge

To have a cabin perched up in a tree: a child's dream that is coming reality for a growing number of people around the earth. Some wish to live in trees as an expensive toy, some to help the environment, others out of tradition or necessity. It's not just a children pastime anymore.

In fact, some treehouses 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 rise them to architectural wonders. They are located all over the world, from just north of New York to all over Europe or the rain forests of Costa Rica.

Modern design allows to install cabins without a single nail into the tree, without breaking off a single branch. The style varies from refined modern confort in new eco-friendly materials to simpler rustic wood, from functional to fanciful, sustainable to strange, residential to meditation or meeting functions, and from affordable to incredibly expensive.
Of course, some people live in traditional tree houses because that has been the local lifestyle for generations. In the jungles of Indonesian province of Papua, local tribes have slowly built their way up into the trees to escape pests and one another. Their residences now reach dizzying heights of over 100 feet.

Several companies offer a variety of models for those seeking privacy, nature and ecology in preserved areas. "La Cabane Perchée" has published a quite beautiful book, "Cabanes perchées", with examples of builded treehouses around the world.

http://www.la-cabane-perchee.com/web/site_fr.html

http://www.books-by-isbn.com/2-84230/2842301439-Cabanes-perchees-Peter-Nelson-Judy-Nelson-David-Larkin-2-84230-143-9.html

1 comments:

Mister Twister said...

My uncle once told me that it is one HELL of a strain on the tree, which was designed to only hold up IT'S OWN weight.

He was right. Poor trees.