Tag Archives: tree house

Polestar’s “Spaceship hut” lets you have immersive experience in the forest

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Having a treehouse in the middle of a forest full of trees may be an ideal scenario for those who love peace and quiet and are semi-adventurous. I mean if you’re fully adventurous, then you’ll go camping or hiking around the forest. But if you’re like me who loves nature but doesn’t totally want to be in the middle of it, then having an enclosed space in the middle of it is the next best thing. Having a futuristic-looking but sustainable kind of structure there is also something that may appeal to that kind of nature lover.

Designer: Kristian Talvitie for Polestar

Polestar is known for its electric vehicles (EV) but they have now also created a “spaceship hut” in the middle of a Finnish forest. Koja is minimalist but futuristic looking and allows its occupants to immerse themselves in nature while still enjoying the safety and comfort of an enclosed space. Basically, it looks like a treehouse but with a more immersive design. It is described as a ‘spaceship in the forest” with only a miniature space to fit in two people.

The hut hangs 19 feet off the ground on a tree and is reinforced with an iron frame to make sure it won’t drop you to the ground. It has a small, u-shaped room that looks more like a viewing deck for the forest. There is an outdoor bathroom nearby where you can do your ablutions. The room has a continuous sofa that can also be a table and even a bed to lie on. Not only is the hut minimalist-looking but even what’s inside is stark and bare but the forest you’re viewing can serve as your “decoration” anyway.

The materials used to create Koja is environmentally-conscious wood and wool. The spruce used is locally sourced, adding to the structure’s “focus on sustainability”. They wanted this structure to be something that shows a “shift” in how we use materials and define spaces in the middle of nature. This is currently not available for booking but I wouldn’t be surprised if it will eventually show up in the Creative Spaces section of AirBnb or something similar.

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Tree house on a steep slope may be your new weekend getaway

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When you think of a treehouse, it may bring back memories of your childhood, or if you’ve never had one, you might think of the ones from movies with kids hanging out there in the summer. But it seems that grown-ups dreaming of tree houses have something more intricate and bigger in mind. A group of architect friends was able to create a cabin situated between trees, which can technically be called a treehouse, on just a $20,000 construction budget.

Designers: Jacobschang Architecture

Having a cabin outside of the city where you can get away every once in a while is a dream for most people. This minimalist 360-square-foot cabin is supported by the trees surrounding it and was constructed using a minimal budget and with most of the work to be done above ground. The most expensive part of the structure is the three 8×8 steel-tube pivot doors which were actually created off-site and installed together with dual-insulated glass panels.

The framing of the cabin uses standard nominal lumber, while the perimeter uses engineered wood beams. In order to balance the house on the upslope corners and between the two trees, they used Sonotube footings and Garnier Limbs to distribute the weight of the entire structure. Although some of the eastern pines were cut down, they were used to create the exterior and interior boards of the treehouse after they were milled and kiln-dried.

The cabin has large glass windows so you will be able to look at the surrounding trees and forest while relaxing inside. It also gives your cozy tree house natural light. The exterior boards are coated with Scandinavian pine tar to give it extra protection, especially during the wet and cold winters in the Sullivan County, just outside of New York, where the cabin is located. There is a Jotul woodstove where you get your heat and a portable generator if needed.

This treehouse is not somewhere you can live in for a long period of time but you can go there if you need to escape the bustle of the city. I would probably get a bit nervous at first sitting inside it seeing as it’s on a slope but if you trust the architects that designed it and the amateur weekend builders who constructed it.

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This floating treehouse perched on steel stilts was inspired by the family’s young daughter’s sketch!

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Designed by a couple’s daughter, the Tree House was built by Ryan Street Architecture Studio to provide a fun and rugged, forested escape from the family’s main residence.

The imagination of children never ceases to inspire. Brimming with daydreams, children are constantly drawing up sketches and coming up with zany ideas. Inspired by the drawings of their own daughter, an Austin-based couple turned to Ryan Street Architecture Studio for help building a treehouse in their backyard. Primarily designed to be a backyard play space for their two daughters, the couple decided to turn the treehouse into something much larger.

Perched atop a system of stilts that mimic clusters of tree branches, the Tree House almost appears like it’s floating above the clearing below. Transforming the floor plans from a children’s treehouse into a much more refined, spacious, and functional guesthouse manifested through the Tree House’s dizzying exterior details.

Paneled with incongruent, uneven wooden slats, the Douglas fir timber chosen for the Tree House’s exterior facades closely resembles the wooden panels that line the couple’s main residence, stationed only a couple meters in front of the Tree House. Having worked on the couple’s main residence, Ryan Street’s choice for the Tree House to mimic the main residence seemed natural.

As project manager Jeremy Ristau notes, “We wanted the Tree House to feel special, while also keeping it relatable in color palette and materials to their main residence since they are in close proximity and it will ultimately feel like one cohesive estate.”

While the sketch became the Tree House’s main and primary source for inspiration, Ryan Street Architecture Studio promptly turned its gaze to the Tree House’s surroundings to better embody the sketches. Punctuated with mirror panels throughout, the Tree House literally reflects its surroundings.

Giving the illusion that trees and brush are closer than they may appear, the mirrors root the Tree House firmly in its natural surroundings. Even the underbelly of the Tree House is anchored with a large mirror to really send home the Tree House’s floating look.

Taking only around five days to reach its final form, Ryan Street asked the Escobedo Group, a local construction company, to develop a panelized prefabricated system called Dario. Constructed offsite, the panels were transported from the Escobedo Group’s factory to the Tree House, avoiding excess waste and streamlining the home’s assembly process.

Equipped with plumbing and electricity rooted in the home’s steel stilt supports, while the exterior might appear ruggedly refined, the interior is as comfortable as any hotel. With a single bedroom located on the home’s first floor and a loft bedroom with two beds, the Tree House functions as a getaway for the family of four and a whimsical house for guests.

Designers: Ryan Street Architecture Studio & Escobedo Group

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Check Out This Bicycle-Powered Tree House Elevator

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Treehouse Elevator

I think treehouses are a part of every person’s childhood in one way or another, whether or not they actually had one in their backyard. I didn’t, but I had a friend who did, and a group of us would spend countless afternoons holed up in there, eating stuff we shouldn’t and talking about ghosts that we thought actually existed. Eventually, we outgrew the treehouse–both figuratively and literally–but there was a point in time where we actually wanted to live in one.

Taking treehouses one step further is Ethan Schlussler of Sandpoint, Idaho, who built a bicycle-powered treehouse elevator because he got tired of having to climb a ladder to get to his 30-foot something treehouse.

Ethan explains: “It was originally a 20-something speed bicycle, but first gear wasn’t slow enough, so I cut the large sprocket off the front, and welded it on the rear to get a lower gear. I also had to do away with the de-railers and make a new chain tensioner.” He adds that he’s planning to build walls and insulate his treehouse in a few weeks, as he plans to actually sleep or even live in it eventually.

VIA [ Geekologie ]