TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
SUMMARY Putting lifestyle-enabling features in place, this research comprises the study about behaviours into a realistic context. In that sense, Tree House Village is attempting to explore opportunities for the development of lifestyle choices that allow individuals to meet their needs using only natural resources. In fact, this research introduce the ideal of changing mindsets for a meaningful sustainable way of living as well as looking for people who want to help do this working as community builders. It strongly reinforces that is possible people living together in small communities in an innovative way. Also, it demonstrates the beneficial points of sustainable practices embedded as a way of living as well a exploring the possibilities of what is possible to do. Intrinsically, considering not only the design of the building aligned with the ideal of sustainability, the Tree House Village is embedded on the the concept of how design the community as a whole. In fact, by demonstrating solutions to local challenges the Tree House Village considers its implementation as a mixeduse sustainable community that is driven to social innovation.
Tree House Village | 2
ONE COMMUNITY GLOBAL This work is in collaboration with One Community Global, a non profit organization that plans models of small communities inserted as a more fulfilled way of living, including a powerful open source free shares that certify comprehensive solutions for all aspects of sustainable way of living. One Community Global care for a philosophy that ensure a highest god of all considering global transformation and based on a win-win collaborative relationships. Furthermore, evolving sustainability, One Community Global designs self-propagating models for self-sufficient demonstration of communities, villages and eventually cities. As a first mission of One Community is demonstrate and inspire people about the beneficial points of sustainable practices embedded as a way of living as well a exploring the possibilities of what is possible to do. Strongly reinforce that is possible people living together in small communities in a different way when it is just a matter of following basic principles and changing attitudes. In that sense, using power of information age One Community Global mission is change mindsets incorporating sustainability into the globalization context, in order to guide people’s lifestyle towards a balanced way of living, which is motivated by the its beneficials for all the society and planet.
Tree House Village | 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS BUILDING SERVICES AND STRATEGIES Why Tree house ? ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 05 Vision, proposal and motivation ................................................................................................................................................................ 06 Designing Sustainably ............................................................................................................................................................................... 07 Personas .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 08 Service Design methodologies: SWOT Analysis, Stakeholders Map and Augmented Service Package ............................................. 11 Concepts and Storyboards ....................................................................................................................................................................... 14 BUILDING ENVELOPE Research : Tree of Life and Chakra .......................................................................................................................................................... 28 Rendering ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 30 Localization ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 32 Sketches, 3D and Rendering .................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Floor Plans: Residence, Hostel and Entertainment .................................................................................................................................. 38 STRUCTURE GUIDELINE First considerations ................................................................................................................................................................................... 43 Structure: Step by step ............................................................................................................................................................................. 44 Choosing a tree ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 45 Inner structure and behavior ...................................................................................................................................................................... 46 What we should consider for builing a treehouse for One Community? ................................................................................................. 47 Designing a green, lightweight and insulated treehouse ......................................................................................................................... 58
WHY TREE HOUSE?
Why choosing build up in a tree? That is the first question many people may interrogate, and from several aspects is being our target investigation for this project. The fact is that most of us at some point of our childhood had been in a tree, and unconsciously it was always considered an object of beauty and enjoyment. But more than that, how would you visualize yourself living in a tree? It seems to be very hard to imagine people living full time in a tree house, mainly because for many times we are obstructors of our view when trees has seen as objects of beauty or even simply lumber. More than rescuing aspects of our childhood, the project strong believes in the possibility of sustainably build up a house up in a tree within all comfort required, and strives for align the ideal of build up an integrated space that collaborates within the environment.
Tree House Village | 5
VISION By demonstrating solutions to local challenges and considering environmental social impacts, Tree House Pod intent to be implemented as a mixed-use sustainable community that it is driven to social innovation. In that sense, combining technologies in a real-life experiment, a sensitive environment is built up in which it is harmonized with the natural beauty and ecology, and specifically put lifestyle-enabling features in place.
PROPOSAL Tree House Pod aims to close gaps of our actual environment acting as a demonstrator of highest quality of life throughout integration of values on the building of a solid independent community. Using natural resources, building up an immersive environment within collaboration of individuals, and sharing knowledge regardless educational critical consciousness. Also, following those concepts, the project strives for correspond it through an innovative design, functional and long-lasting.
MOTIVATION This project is motivated by a continuous need of designing an integrated environment around a sensitive development addressing sustainable practices. This applies at the aspects of major infrastructure projects, and also going beyond simple activities performed on daily basis. Additionally, the motivation comes from an exponential effort to engage activities people already perform relatively sustainably, and focus on expanding those, while finding ways to make other activities more sustainable.
Tree House Village | 6
DESIGN SUSTAINABLY
BEHAVIORS A affordable sustainable living approach analyze different aspects where individuals should take their attitudes in place towards a sustainable change. At first, it involves a changing behaviour at home, collaboration using shared spaces as well as using product or service systems. For the massive population, sustainable lifestyles are only achievable collectively, within a great amount of self-awareness, systems-level thinking and cooperation with one another. Additionally, the sustainable living approach examines the ability of the user evaluate about their choices of where and how to live regardless the existing structure systems of towns, cities and regions.
SYSTEMS Promoting benefits and utility to users, the product service systems are a focused arrangement of products within an intelligently designed system. The systemsthinking requires a holistic perspective on the evaluation of products usage within a challenging aspect front of the product redesign. Certainly, rethinking how individuals use products can gain environmental saving, without literally redesigning the product itself. Furthermore, improving functionally of a product has as its core principle aligned with the encouragement of sustainable patterns of user behaviour.
LIFESTYLES Sustainable lifestyles can be shaped as an individual behaviour or even further shaped into major aspects as communal behaviours. Lifestyles are described as the manner individuals manage their lives correlated with the interactions of choices and decisions. Minimizing the consumption of the natural resources and the social injustices related with goods and services consumed are the major issues. As generally those adoptions are established politics, economic and social norms, in which should be considered as levels of influence when implementing solutions.
Tree House Village | 7
PERSONAS RESIDENTS CHRISTINE 32 YEARS OLD
AGE
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
LOCATION
GRAPHIC COMMUNICATIONS
PETER CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO
EDUCATION
WORK
MARRIED WITH KIDS
59 YEARS OLD
MARRITAL STATUS
AGE
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
LOCATION
COMPUTER SOFTWARE
IBM
EDUCATION
WORK
MARRIED
MARRITAL STATUS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
She thinks that is very important to have a creative outlet for implementation of a sustainable community regardless being beneficial for all the society as a whole. She is very consciousness about the challenges of changing people’s mindset but instead she demonstrates the possibilities of naturally changing attitudes and behaviours by journaling her life and inspiring all who lives in her surroundings.
She seeks for constant personal growth by being involved in the local community building. Additionally, she is involved into diverse open discussions. She is very driven by self expression instead of caring much about what her peers or people around her think. She fights for what she thinks is right and what is essentially important in the context of globalization.
He is constantly trying to accumulate experience from others. He has a confident personality, where he is always watching his steps before taking an action, in order to get the best decision making. A couple of years ago, he started taking a more sustainable lifestyle, mainly to related with his alimentation. Because he is very concerned about his health, he has slowly started changing his habits. By taking those new habits he is inspiring his wife to change her habits as well. In fact, both are very open minded and they are very flexible to overcome barriers.
Peter is motivated by the propitious well being towards a balanced lifestyle it can provide for all the individuals. Inspired by the connect community his claimings become more realistic, and also it become an important key motivator to engage people to transform their mindsets.
VALS ANALYSIS
EXPECTATIONS
SELF EXPRESSION
She expects leave something to her family to back on by demonstrating her experiences and sharing within another like minded people her skills. She expect to overcome her expectations by risking her assumptions of a globalized lifestyle.
ACTIVE
OPTIMIST
Tree House Village | 8
SELF-CONSCIOUS
ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
She wants to spread out her preeminent ideas about helping build up a network society as a primary component of a sustainable organization regardless a coproduction of values. She is striving to always be learning. In fact, she has spent her life dedicated to the importance of education. Additionally, she is envisioning the development of a project related with the education of critical consciousness practices embedded on the process of learning of younger generations.
EXPECTATIONS
By exploring a sustainable environment, Peter wants to increase his experience towards a maintenance of a health habits as well as collaborate within the community spreading out those concept.
CALM
KIND
SELF-CONSCIOUS
VALS ANALYSIS SELF EXPRESSION ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
He wants to be increasingly surrounded by a immersive sustainable environment. He is envisioning a changing of habits as a way to accumulate experiences from others. Additionally, for keep his financial stability he is thinking in open up a small business such a learning center of physical and mental health. In fact, Peter believes that the learning process about the beneficials of sustainability is the starting point for a significant change.
PERSONAS TOURISTIS BEN
DANIEL 23 YEARS OLD
AGE
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
LOCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
EDUCATION
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
MAJOR
16 YEARS OLD
SINGLE
AGE
MARRITAL STATUS
BRENTWOOD SCHOOL
STUDENT
EDUCATION
WORK
WESTWOOD, CALIFORNIA
LOCATION
SINGLE
MARRITAL STATUS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
He is very upfront about his life plans. Even very young in comparisons with his close friends, he is always planning new challenges in his life, and actually is thinking in open up a different business related with sustainable clothing. He likes the sensation of always being challenged by his new ideas of life and fortunately his family is very proud of it and they incentive him on it. He believes in this promising idea of using sustainable materials for spread out the importance of the sustainable practices such as on the larger industry of clothing, which is directly related with the society consciousness. Almost all his close friends is inspired by him and they are very engaged to be involved. In fact, daniel has a strong personality being very expressive about himself, and always is looking for some opportunity to accomplish his goals.
He is engaged by taking risks in what he believes as a way to keep always challenged. He is very interested on research and development of projects, and he believes that mainly related with sustainability the first step is changing his personal behaviours.
He is very dedicated into his studies by being very participatory in all the events in his school. He loves explore his surroundings and is very curious about geography. He loves to photographs and post them in social media. Also, he likes to play soccer every now and then during her class breaks. She likes to socialize with classmates and online.
Feeling of work well done through a collaborative work. Plus, he expects help others grow and practice his skills.
ORGANIZED
ANXIOUS
CREATIVE
VALS ANALYSIS SELF EXPRESSION ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
He is striving for open up a clothing business within sustainable materials. In fact he has the ability to envisioning the benefits for all on changing attitudes starting with larger industries, where the effect involve the community as a whole.
EXPECTATIONS
He is convinced that working co-productively will make a bigger difference. Definately, he thinks that a better world is possible by being responsible about our individual attitudes and taking simple actions.
VALS ANALYSIS SELF EXPRESSION ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
He wants to be entertained by a immersive environment where he can learn from one another within creative solutions of learning. He wants to be constantly surrounded by his friends and interact with them doing active activities. In fact, he is very communicative and because of that always is stand out among others.
EXPECTATIONS
He expects to positively impact the local community with his ideas, and in fact get support to effectively realize them. Also, he is motivated by changing the assumptions of consumption in the context of a developed world, and prove to people that minimum habits changes can have a strong effect on health and wellness of all.
ENERGETIC
GETS UPSET EASILY
EASILY DISTRACTED
Tree House Village | 9
PETER
ROSE 46 YEARS OLD
AGE
AUSTIN, TEXAS
LOCATION
CIVIL ENGINEERING
CMA ENGINEERING INC
EDUCATION
WORK
59 YEARS OLD
MARRIED WITH KIDS
AGE
MARRITAL STATUS
SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA
LOCATION
COMPUTER SOFTWARE
IBM
EDUCATION
WORK
MARRIED
MARRITAL STATUS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
BEHAVIOURS
KEY MOTIVATORS
Despite very busy at the work, she is very dedicated on the household tasks as well very enthusiastic within her childrens. She is very determined at the work and likes to ensure a well work done. At every time break or even when she has a small opportunity to travel with her family she tries to visit peculiar places. As she believes on the powerful learning from local communities and its environment as a sustainable hub, she likes to share this perspective with her relatives. She loves being connected with her family and learn curiosities from different places.
She is motivated by good communication, shared experiences and ensure the quality of life for her family.
He is always looking for different field trips to spend time experiencing different sensations. He is very energetic and loves be at places where he can be really immersed by activities never taken before. He is very flexible and adaptative into different environments and cultural probes. He is aware about the importance of be acquainted about the advantages of sustainable practices and somehow wants to explore more how to do so.
Be enclosed by the the possibility of connection within like minded people, environments, and activities.
ENERGETIC
INTROSPECTIVE
Tree House Village | 10
VERY ACCURATE
VALS ANALYSIS SELF EXPRESSION ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
She seek being connected with her family and learn curiosities from different places. She is open to creative or even crazy experiences, as long as she can relieve her mental state regardless having good options to choose from, such as entertainment, workshops and conferences. EXPECTATIONS
She expects being surprised by the goods of having sustainable habits. In fact she is willing to experiment different perspectives of life in order to find her own meaning of it. She believes that a individual attitudes is the primary step to achieve quality of life for all.
EXPECTATIONS
He expects gain experiences and being inspired by people that have different perspectives of life. He expects create relations within the individuals of the community regardless creating a channel of communication.
EXPANSIVE
VERSATILE
FOCUSED
VALS ANALYSIS SELF EXPRESSION ACHIEVEMENT IDEAL
GOALS
He wants to be involved on different environments and in contact with diversive cultural probes where he can learn from. Also, he wants to have a comfortable place to take time out. He wants to be surprised by the environment and its possibilities of local activities.
SWOT ANALYSIS A SWOT analysis is a structured planning method used to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It can be applied to products, services and strategies. Those four factors evaluate both internal and external factors related to a specific project, service or strategy, in which the internal analysis includes both strength and weakness factors, while the external analysis include opportunities and threats factors. Indeed, SWOT analysis helps stakeholders to identify the strong and weak points and subsequently helps to determine the right decision to turn a specific idea into a new product development stage.
• Connectivity within the environment • Immersive environment • Localization • Use of natural resources • Community building • Shared knowledge • Fundraising
• Green Campaigns • Functional Design • Use of shared spaces • Multidisciplinary environment • Educational purpose • Events and awareness
• “Sweet Dream” • Radical innovation • People unawareness
• Maintenance of updates online • Low number of volunteers • Massive/ not effective information
Tree House Village | 11
STAKEHOLDERS MAP Essentially, identify the stakeholders is one of the orienting scenarios a project should be based, considering their power, influence and interest on the project. In sense, the development of the stakeholder map is important to understand their response front of their claims, and so understand how a service can work accordingly. Characteristics such as knowledge of the policy, interests related to the policy, position for or against the policy, potential alliances with other stakeholders, and ability to affect the policy process are analyzed. Plus, by carrying out this analysis before implementing a policy or program, policy makers and managers can detect and act to prevent potential misunderstandings or opposition to the implementation of the policy or program. A policy or program will more likely succeed if a stakeholder analysis, along with other key tools, is used to guide its implementation.
BACKSTAGE Executive directors
Consultants and Partner
FRONTSTAGE
Founders Pioneer members
Satellite members
INDIVIDUOS Tree House Village | 12
AUGMENTED SERVICE OFFERING Tree House Pod as being the seventh village to be implemented at the One Community Global property, it is being utilized a new educational service product model offering. It can be explained as long as from a wide range of topics Tree House Pod is projected to be as model of living, it can also be embedded on the concept of how to design communities as a learning experience within collaboration of individuals and sharing knowledge regardless educational critical consciousness. Intrinsically, Tree House by demonstrating solutions to local challenges and considering environmental social impacts intent to be implemented as a mixed-use sustainable community that it is driven to social innovation. In that sense, the educational degree model of living (service product) consists of the core performance purchased by the learners, members and tourists, through a real life experiments of designing community as well as workshops and conferences , in which is designed to provide a qualification and learning outcome reflected by the model of living (a desired outcome).
CORE Accessibility
Interactions
FACILITATING SERVICES/GOODS
SUPPORTING SERVICES/GOODS
Customer Participation
CORE Tree House Pod
FACILITATING Living model Open source Tourism
SUPPORTING Fundraising Members Hostels/programs
ACCESSIBILITY
CUSTOMER PARTICIPATION
INTERACTION
Site Access: Donation, Fundraising events Online collaboration , Volunteerism Partnerships
Donation online collaboration volunteerism partnership membership
Systems: Blog reviews, website platform, app
Members: Professionals and volunteers
Public Interactions Sharing knowledge, learning experiences, open discussions, providing information
Tree House Village | 13
STORYBOARDS CONCEPTS
BUSINESS
For the Tree House Pod model of living was designed for residents and visitors who is interested by developing their own business and enjoy the opportunities Tree House Pod can provide in that aspect. Together with professionals the objective is promoting workshops and conferences as well as doing field trips in order to analyze in practice the opportunities of development around the sustainable issues. Additionally, the power of this business engagement is based on the discussions and the co production of values among residents and visitors, understanding basic needs of users and its interaction with objects and spaces. The approach is focused on the exchange of experiences among professionals, residents and visitors. The competencies required for this project include director, member, event planner, curators and mentors. Timeframe: 12 months
Tree House Village | 14
Start ups workshops
A group of students is coming to the career fair at the Tree House Village.
Earlier, they made a reservation online.
As they enter, they can see many likeminded people who are very excited and ready for the discussions.
Together and with tour guides, the students are divided in groups for a scavenger hunt throughout the forest and around the property. The group that wins this game will get souvenirs and prizes.
Professionals in the area relate their experiences with the career-fair attendees through workshops and conferences. The workshops are in an open-discussion format so the audience can share their experiences as well
The students leave the area reflecting on what they learned from the professionals who shared, engaged by their new knowledge, and planning to come to the next workshop. Tree House Village | 15
STORYBOARDS CONCEPTS
EDUCATIONAL
For the Tree House Pod model of living was designed for promote learning opportunities and recreative spaces in which enforce the skills people can developed using resources available at the locality. It includes Express yourself program and Brainiac program in which are constituted by areas of recreation such as meditation room, game room and outdoor areas striving for engaging capabilities, allowing body and mental expressions, and information hubs about developed practices at the Tree House Pod. Additionally, the programs promote an environment of collaboration among residents and visitors within exchange of experiences. The competencies required for this project include executive directors, members, event planner, curators, mentors and psychologists. Time Frame: 5 months
Tree House Village | 16
Express yourself
A family has signed up for one of the many educational opportunities at the Tree House Village.
After reviewing the diverse options, they chose an immersive experience of exercise, music and meditation.
Then a tour guide takes them on a tour of activities in the outdoor area.
Returning to the Tree House Village, some of the family goes to the game room for some recreational fun.
Others go to the study room to read and relax.
As the day wraps up, the family share their favorite experiences with plans to come back next week.
Tree House Village | 17
Brainiac
Tree House Village | 18
A family has signed up for one of the many educational opportunities at the Tree House Village.
As they arrive, they have many arts & crafts and other sustainability options to choose from.
They all decide to take a class on growing food and best-gardening practices.
Arts and crafts is part of their tour as well, where they learn how to build up objects from the very basic.
Then, guided by resident volunteers, they learn about the use of disposable packaging and many ways to transform it into new objects.
The environment encourages discussion and the friends share their thoughts with each other and others while learning how to make a better world by starting with themselves. They finish filled with new information and continuing the collaboration with each other.
STORYBOARDS CONCEPTS
TOURS
For the Tree House Pod model of living was designed tours for small and large groups of visitors. The tours has a main ideal capture experiences into an immersive environment making it memorable for visitors. Additionally, tours are striving for propose a multicultural elements within a meaningful message throughout experiences. It includes Mind’s eyes Tour, Capturing memories Tour and Exercise yourself Tour. By allowing the interaction among residents, visitors and environments, the tours support activities such as camping, climbing trails, cross biking and galleries. Promoting activities performed in big or small groups and intuitively learning about taking care of the nature and knowing better our surroundings. The competencies required for this project include executive directors, member, event planner, curators and mentors. Timeframe: 12 months
Tree House Village | 19
Capturing memories
Tree House Village | 20
A group of students is coming to enjoy 2 days of camping at the Tree House Village
They found out about the camping when surfing the internet.
Day 1 starts with recreational activities and exploring their surroundings.
Together and with tour guides, the students are divided in groups for a scavenger hunt throughout the forest and around the property. The group tat wins this game will get souvenirs and prizes.
After a long day of activities, the group return to their campsite for relaxation and stories about the history of One Community and the Tree House Village.
At the end, the students have learned new things about nature, sustainability, and ecoliving, taking with them many stories of their own to share with one another.
Mind set
A family is coming to One Community on an open-tour day to explore the Tree House Village and other sustainable models of living.
They get the tickets at the entrance.
They start by exploring the tree-house dwellings and recreational areas.
Returning to the Tree House Village, some of the family goes to the game room for some recreational fun.
A resident tour guide is there to answer questions and share their experience of living in this village.
Reflecting on their experience of exploring the Tree House and what they’ve learned, the family finishes at the gift shop to get souvenirs to remember the experience. Tree House Village | 21
Exercise yourself
Tree House Village | 22
A group of high school students signed up for the “Radical Sports Day� at the Tree House Village.
As they enter, each student is given an identification card with a nature name. This makes things super fun and helps tour guides working with each group.
The tour starts by a hiking through the forest when students can enjoy the view and explore their surroundings.
A hike through the forest leads to a recreation space where the students enjoy a climbing wall and then have snacks.
Next they enjoy a biking trail to view and explore more of the area.
At the end of the day, the students have made new friends and are happy to have had an entertaining day of fun and exercise in nature.
STORYBOARDS CONCEPTS
EVENTS & AWARENESS
For the Tree House Pod model of living was designed special events that will give exposure for the village in the local community. Special events hosted by the Tree House Pod will ensure community involvement and awareness among residents and visitors. These include a Music Festival and Movie Screenings in which host respectively concerts and documentaries establishing a dynamic of work within a collaboration among volunteers and visitors. It will also accommodate meaningful discussions and green campaigns in order to spread out the mission of One Community itself on helping in practice the awareness of local community about sustainability. The competencies required for this project include executive directors, members, event planner, curators, audio/ visual specialist and graphic designer. Timeframe: 10 months.
Tree House Village | 23
Music festival
Tree House Village | 24
A group of friends and business owners are coming to a music festival at the Tree House Village.
As they pay for their tickets and enter, they notice the entire environment is ecologically designed.
In the outdoor concert area, hundreds of people like them are gathered and excited to see the concert too.
Before the show starts, they buy some food and souvenirs.
They also participate in classes, discussions and other collaborative opportunities sponsored by the Tree House Team.
While enjoying the concert they think about their day and the collaborative talks they’ve had, already planning to come back to the next festival and share new ideas.
Movie screening
Families and business owners are coming to the Tree House Village outdoor movie screening to learn about how the the Tree House Village can be built by others.
Having been here before, they see many old friends enjoying the environment and waiting for the movie to start.
Walking around they stop at booths along the paths. These booths are staffed by volunteers answering questions and sharing sustainability and other ecoliving information.
Buying some popcorn they meet other like-minded individuals, sharing stories and information too.
Before the Tree House Village movie, they watch an inspirational documentary and get really excited.
After the movie they have the opportunity to participate in discussions and collaborate on the green campaigns sponsored by the Tree House team.
Tree House Village | 25
TREE HOU Tree House Village | 26
USE VILLAGE | MODEL OF LIVING
ARCHITECTURE
Tree House Village | 27
RESEARCH TREE OF LIFE
Taking into account the Tree of Life as base for the definition of spaces displayed at the Tree House Pod, it can be powered by the meaningful importance of the Tree of Life as being the interconnection of all life on our planet and serves as a metaphor for common descent in the evolutionary sense. Also, the term Tree of Life may also be used as a synonym for sacred tree. In summary, for the Tree House Pod the representation of the Tree of Life as a symbol portrait the ideal of sharing knowledge and the power of transformation of the world into a collaborative relationship among individuals.
TREE OF LIFE MODEL
Tree House Village | 28
RESEARCH CHAKRA
Tree Housing Pod Model of Living has the color blue as an inspiration. The blue color was chosen based at the Chakra’s colors. Each Chakra has a significant behind, and they are not just about colors, but which are arranged vertically along the axial channel. Aligned with this philosophy, the village was inspired by the fifth Chakra in which represents communication and it is located at the center of the throat. Also, the fifth chakra is considered as the inner voice, and the expression of creativity, such as arts and music. In summary, the chakra speaks for the expression centre. In sense, it can be translate at the One Community philosophy, in which says about the highest good of all as a core principle. Specifically, the highest good of all ensure the possibility of positively transform the world for everyone even if a very small percentage of the population choosing to work together. Substantially, this philosophy can be divided into three small values that reflects into the Tree House Pod, such as care, share and play which respectively means the love and connection, communication and contribution, and personal growth and spiritual freedom.
CHAKRA
Color pallete
Tree House Village | 29
Tree House Village | 30
Tree House Village | 31
Tree House Village | 32
Hostel area Halls Business area Residence area
Tree House Village | 33
TREE HOUSE
Tree House Village | 34
SKETCHES
Tree House Village | 35
TREE HOUSE
3D MODELING
The outer shell of a building defines the boundary between inside and outside. It dominates the external appearance of the building and enters into a dialogue with its surroundings. The history of the building envelope is therefore dominated by features and attributes that govern appearance, proportions, choice of materials and cultural aspects.
Tree House Village | 36
RENDERING
TREE HOUSE
The task of the building envelope is to create safe, secure, healthy and agreeable interior conditions for the respective type of use. A viable concept contains the synthesis of all relevant parameters and places the user at the focus of the investigation. It is necessary and also permissible to questions the subjective demands of users, especially in the case of a building whose energy concept is based on a close interaction with the external influences.
Tree House Village | 37
FLOOR PLAN
RESIDENCE
Tree House Village | 38
FLOOR PLAN HOSTEL Tree House Village | 39
FLOOR PLAN Tree House Village | 40
ENTERTAINMENT
Tree House Village | 41
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
STRUCTURE
Tree House Village | 42
Treehouse constructions, as any other, must be supervised by a professional. The following instructions are general guidelines only, for anyone wishing to design their own house and to be able to put their main ideas upon a paper, but still, to guarantee that the structure is properly done and specificity of the site is taken into account, a professional must be contacted. Other thing to have in mind when dealing with treehouses is that their design possibilities have not been explored enough. Just because certain type of construction has not been invented yet or an idea is not fully developed, it does not mean it doesn’t work, but in order to implement it, it must be tested first. Treehouses, nowadays, are largely built with wood, but some examples using bamboo are being developed; structures combining material should be promoted, but tests should be developed in order to measure the weight and structural behavior. Finally, it is highly accepted between treehouse builders that planning and construction of a treehouse start always after choosing a tree. Since they present tortuous and organic shapes and each one is different from the rest, a treehouse design should always consider the particularities of the chosen tree. If you decide to use an existing drawing to build you house, please consider to adapt the existing design, especially the structure, to the tree you choose.
Tree House Village | 43
Tree trunk pruned before receiving treehouse
Support structure of wood (brackets, knee braces, beams and joists) using dimensional lumber of 2x4, 2x6 and 2x8
Laying the floor, made of insulated panels (wood or metal)
Laying the deck, made of lumber of 2x4
Connecting the deck to other treehouse if that is the case
Raising the wall, also made of insulated panels, leaving openings for windows and doors
Placing the roof upon the walls with a minimal inclination of 35째 against snowfalls.
Attaching all parts together with appropriate tools and materials. Step 8 is simultaneous to 06 and 07.
Tree House Village | 44
Placing railing.
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
CHOOSING A TREE
Treehouses can be built on a single tree or on a number of them. Using only one tree as the support for your house increases the weight supported by it; on the other hand, although multiple trees may favor the structure, because it distributes the stress among different supports, the construction would have to consider the uneven growth and movement of each tree, and therefore the impact they would produce on the house structure, Bigger trees are usually better, because it could mean they are fully grown, and therefore more resistant to larger weights; they also tend to move less with the wind; and they probably have thicker heartwoods (inner core of dead wood, where screws are attached). Ideally, single trees should have 18’’ of diameter to support a house, but there are cases of trees with 10’ that also perform well. Again, ask the evaluation of a arborist and an engineer. Choose a healthy tree, and although having an overall good look is a good indicator, pay attention to some details is crucial. Be careful with roots; to bury them can suffocate them. Also, be aware of constructions near the tree, because roots can also be impacted by smaller supply of water and nutrients. On trunk and branches, look for large holes and/or hollow spots, rot and sign of bug infestation. Avoid trunks too lean, because they are more susceptible to be affected by storms. Dead branches must be removed before start construction and canopy of trees during summer should be full with no significant bare spot. Those are some Ideal species for building treehouses according numberous authors: apple, ash, beech, cedar, chesnut, cypress, Duglas fir, elm, larch, London plane, all maples, monkeypod, almost all oaks, redwood, spruce, sycamore. They also recommend avoiding: alder, aspen, box elder, cottonwood, holly, juniper, palm and swamp oak. Trees that are not listed here might be used as well; check your your arborist if the tree you have in mind suits the house you want to build.
Tree House Village | 45
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
INNER STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIOR OF TREES
Understanding the basic inner structure of a tree is important to help treehouse designers’ decisions. That knowledge allow us to understand why some trees are more resistant than others and how to avoid damaging and killing it after you build a treehouse. Apart from growing up, trees grow horizontally. The vertical growth of a tree happens at its top, which means that if you happen to build your house on a tree with a constant growth, your house is very unlikely to go up as well; nevertheless, it is the horizontal growth the challenging part. The inner structure of a tree, as shown below by the picture xx, is formed by rings. The difference of color is due to weather variation, so this characteristic is not perceived in tree in the tropics. Usually the way botanists know the age of some trees is by counting the number of rings. Acknowledging that trees growth horizontally is mandatory because it means that walls, beams and roofs of treehouses should not be built touching directly the external surface of the trunk; of course, some sort of support will eventually touch the tree, but the less spots touch the tree, the better because the tree needs, it will grow around those spots creating an extra stress on those elements. If beams touch the trunk, they can be simply be pushed out or be stressed in a way that wasn’t predicted and eventually break; either way, the structure of the treehouse is seriously affected. Essentially, trunks and branches present five main layers: heartwood, sapwood (xylem), cambium, phloem and cork. Heartwood is the spine of tree, the axis that maintaining it standing; it is made of dead cell located at the inner part of the trunk, and therefore it is the most rigid part of the tree and where usually you should stick supporting bolts. Sapwood is a layer of younger cells that flow water and nutrients from the roots up to leaves; when its cells die they become part of the heartwood. Cambium is the part of the tree where new rings appear, promoting then its horizontal growth, because is responsible for producing cells for sapwood and phloem. Phloem is the network of cells that supply all parts of the tree, including roots, with sugar made by leaves; because it is located on the outer layers of the trunk, it is the part that builders show pay close attention to. Affecting the phloem on the entire perimeter of the trunk will prevent roots from being fed and it will cause the death of the tree; trunks should never be tightly embraced by metal rings, ropes or cables, nor be superficially cut around like a ring. Cork is formed by dead cells of phloem and it acts as a protection against insects, diseases, temperature and physical impacts
Tree House Village | 46
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE WHAT WE SHOULD CONSIDER FOR BUILDING A TREE HOUSE FOR ONE COMMUNITY? CLIMATE Like in other projects, the climate has a huge impact on the design of a treehouse; choosing the right spot, in that case a tree, the best orientation, the most appropriated and available material and the most efficient construction techniques is the better way to design the building in terms of thermal insulation. Since building a treehouse involves a lot of variables (not necessarily the best tree provides the best orientation for sun; not necessarily the most efficient material is the lightest to be supported by a tree), it is all a matter of analyzing the best circumstance. Besides the overall approach, taking into consideration some issue that might not be evident at the beginning can help a lot; for example the fact that the tree is deciduous or evergreen can force you to change your design. The advantage of deciduous trees is that they protect the house from the sun during summer and when winter arrives leaves fall allowing the sun in; if the area gets really cold during winter, all the sunlight you can get, the better, otherwise, the design of the house must compensate this natural heating. On the other hand, evergreen trees during winter create an extra protection from the snow and the wind.
Tree House Village | 47
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE WHAT WE SHOULD CONSIDER FOR BUILDING A TREE HOUSE FOR ONE COMMUNITY? HOW TO DESIGN FOR COLD? WHY INSULATE ? With current technology, even the coldest or hottest regions of the world can be inhabited, because HVAC systems keep working non-stop. The counterpart is that the consumption of energy by those systems can reach almost half of all the energy used for a home, which means that the more the design of the house takes advantages of the thermal properties of materials and insulations behavior of a building element, the less energy a house will spend with heating or cooling.
WHERE INSULATE ? WThe general rule is to insulate all exterior surfaces of each building system (foundations, floors, walls, roofs), either on the exterior layers or between framing elements, like studs, joists or rafters. Openings represent the main flaws in acoustic and thermal insulation systems, therefore, windows and doors should be carefully chosen and installed correctly.
Tree House Village | 48
HOW TO DESIGN FOR COLD? WHAT IS R-VALUE? It is an index of heat flow through the material that indicates how good or bad and element is for insulation. The higher the R-value the lower is the flow and, therefore, the more insulated a house is; values range from R-1 to R-60 and to be LEED certified, the wall must perform with at least a value of R-40. The choice of which materials should be used in constructions is somewhat a matter of design preference, affordability and availability; however, there is a national code that establish a minimum R-value that systems should achieve and those values vary according to the US Climate Zones in which each state and county are located.
Tree House Village | 49
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE WHAT WE SHOULD CONSIDER FOR BUILDING A TREE HOUSE FOR ONE COMMUNITY? IMPORTANCE OF VENTILATION AND AIR LEAKAGE CONTROL FOR PROPER INSULATION AND AGAINST MOISTURE Ventilation of insulated floors, walls and roofs is crucial for the insulation system to function properly; when buildings do not have a ventilation system, the difference of temperature between inside and outside cause air of the hotter ambience to condense, storing water inside walls and causing moisture. Ventilation always refresh air, avoiding it to condense it inside elements. Air leakage occurs through elements that have low insulation capacity, like studs inside framed walls; although, insulation materials are proper for maintaining the temperature of the house stable, if they are not made as one single and uninterrupted layer, hot air will escape through gaps, even very small ones, or through elements that conduct heat easier than others. Although it is impossible to provide 100% efficient insulation, controlling air leakage helps the building to depend less on HVAC systems.
ADVANCED HOUSE FRAMING OR OPTIMUM VALUE ENGINEERING (OVE) OVE is a framing technique to reduce amount of lumber used by designing the frame on a two-foot module to make the best use of sheet insulation sizes It presents itself as a good technique to rationalize costs and waste of materials. However, although removing a few studs, the technique does not solve the main problem of insulation: thermal bridging through non-isolating materials like wood. The fact is that to really improve performance of wall, it is necessary an uninterrupted layer of insulation exterior to the studs or inside a double-stud wall. The following images show six strategies for cold climates to improve the
Tree House Village | 50
ADVANCED HOUSE FRAMING OR OPTIMUM VALUE ENGINEERING
Tree House Village | 51
TYPES OF INSULATION
INSULATION MATERIALS
Tree House Village | 52
Tree House Village | 53
DESIGNING ROOFs FOR SNOW Roofs are designed to protect the building from sun, wind, rain, snow and some falling objects. Protection against sun can be achieved with any inclination and sometimes the roof can even have openings and the interior will not receive sunlight in anyway. Flat roofs, for instance, create an extra floor to the building, protects from sunlight and are good surface to place solar panels, but are not the most recommended solution against rainfalls. Although there is a huge amount of existing buildings with flat roofs, the costs with waterproofing systems and maintenance are way higher than pitched roofs. The minimum inclination depends also on the material that is going to be used to sheath the roof; ceramic tiles, metal roof, asphalt shingles have different recommendations. As a general rule, a minimal inclination of 25% can be sufficient. Inclination can be represented using three methods - angle, fraction and percentage -, but genuinely they are all the same. Measurement in angles is more logical when drawing on a piece of paper, but when building on-site is very difficult to place the elements with a protractor; that is why usually, inclinations of roofs are given in fraction (called pitch) or percentage. The idea is to measure the inclination given values for the height by its horizontal length; a pitch of 4/12 or 4:12 means that each 4 units the roof goes up, 12 units it goes horizontally; an inclination of 25% means that each 25 units the roof goes up, 100 units it goes horizontally. Pitch terminology is commonly used in countries that adopt the imperial system, like United States, and percentage is usually used in countries that adopted the metric system.The minimum pitch for snowfall follows the same rule of rain, it depends on the amount of snow and the materials used for sheathing. Ideally,the minimum pitch recommended by some experts is 6:12, but others recommend even a pitch of 12:12
The following advices for roofs in cold climates are given by Laura Gaskill and Martin Holladay. Please, be sure that those are only recommendations, they do not mean you cannot do differently.
1
simple gable roof is the best shape, because it prevents pine needles, snow and ice from accumulating in nooks and crannies, and also they are better to vent. Avoid valley; they are more common to have leaks and ice dam problems.
2
openings in the roof should be avoided, because each one (skylight, chimney or gable) represents a potential spot for leaks and ice accumulation; if a skylight is necessary to your project to improve sunlight, do it with caution and full knowledge.
3
place openings near the roof ridge. the top is the least-likely spot for snow or ice to build up and cause leak.
4
choose metal roofing (steel) or asphalt shingles choose a metal roof.; they are more durable, sheds snow with ease and rarely springs leak.
Tree House Village | 54
5
Be carefull with the material of the exterior floors to avoid slides and position railing at every stairway.
6
Provide covers over entrances to provide more comfort and make generous overhangs.
7
South-facing windows. “Classic single- and double-hung windows, as well as sliding windows, tend to leak more air. Choose awning, casement or fixed windows for a tighter seal.”
8
Well-insulated pipes to protect from freezing. Plumbing should be either inside insulated walls or well wrapped with insulation protection.
9
Minimal openings help avoiding heat and keeping internal temperatures more stable. windows, doors and joints frequently are the spots of heat leakage.
10
openings in the roof should be avoided, because each one (skylight, chimney or gable) represents a potential spot for leaks and ice accumulation; if a skylight is necessary to your project to improve sunlight, do it with caution and full knowledge.
11
Always consider ventilation.
12
Don’t reduce the slope of your roof.
13
Get flashing details right. step flashing should be generously sized; the vertical leg should be at least 6 in, but in is better.
14
Anticipate ice dams.
Tree House Village | 55
DESIGNING FOR SUNLIGHT Passive-solar houses are energetically more efficient, because they take advantage of the sun path to provide heat to the house during the entire day, or at least most of it. Using sunlight to heat water, heat walls and roofs and even produce energy can decrease a lot the amount of energy and its cost. But to take advantage of solar heat, buildings should be placed in areas that receive sunlight during most part of the day and with the correct orientation in relation to the sun. When building a treehouse, dwellers may find difficult to capture sunlight because of tree’s canopy. If you want to use solar panels and heaters, they probably will work better if located far from the woods to avoid shadows, but if you realize the cost of placing them too far does not make up all the effort, placing them up on the trees, above canopy, could be an alternative but still a very difficult task. If you do not wish to use solar panels, but still is willing to use sunlight to improve the efficiency of energy in your house, take advantage of deciduous trees, which provide shadow during summer, protecting the house from excessive sunlight during hot days, and let the light through during winter. The advantage of evergreen trees, on the other hand, is in protecting the roof during winter from excessive snowfall.
WEIGHT Currently, the best lightweight insulating materials commercially available are self-structural insulated panels, which are basically two thin layers of structural materials sandwiching a third layer of an insulated material. The primary example is a SIP, which is made of plywood and foam, and it is commonly used for fastconstruction buildings in cold climates. There are available already IMPs, which can achieve thinner thicknesses, be more insulated and aesthetically more pleasing. Insulated panels are a good solution not only for its protection against cold, but because of its simple and fast execution in a construction site.
Tree House Village | 56
SUSTAINABILITY How to be green in cold and what is green insulation? Typically, any insulation system is green by itself because it prevents high use of HVAC systems and saves energy. However, sustainability has become more than a concern to avoid waste of energy, but a concern with the whole cycle of production. This means that building materials not only should avoid waste of energy of a house, but their own industrial production should incentivate sustainability. That is why, nowadays, not only civil industry is concerned with sustainable buildings, but also with sustainable materials, sustainable construction and sustainable practices in a general way. Green insulation could then mean that either the production of certain material is free-pollutant, or the material contains high percentage of recycled materials and it does not contain harmful substances to human health
Tree House Village | 57
TREE HOUSE VILLAGE TREE HOUSE VILLAGE
DESIGNING A GREEN, LIGHTWEIGHT AND DESIGNING A GREEN, LIGHTWEIGHT AND INSULATED TREEHOUSE
SO WHAT ARE THE MATERIALS OR CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS THAT COMBINED ARE LIGHTWEIGHT, THERMAL AND GREEN?
SO WHAT ARE THE MATERIALS OR CONSTRUCTION SYSTEMS THAT COMBINED ARE LIGHTWEIGHT, THERMAL AND GREEN? When designing the treehouse village for One Community, we were concerned not only with fitting the program inside a unit structured by a tree, but also When designing the treehouse village for One Community, we were concerned not only with fitting the program inside a unit structured by a tree, but also with the with the materials that we could use to protect thermally the house during winter. Being a treehouse, weight takes a huge part in the design of treehouses. Wood materials that we could use to protect thermally the house during winter. Being a treehouse, weight takes a huge part in the design of treehouses. Wood houses have houses have being applied as a design solution for treehouses for decades, and they are not necessarily bad; but when considering that most treehouses are built being applied as a design solution for treehouses for decades, and they are not necessarily bad; but when considering that most treehouses are built nowadays as nowadays as temporary or vocational structures in more moderate climates, building a permanent house in a region with snowfalls using single stud walls was a temporary or vocational structures in more moderate climates, building a permanent house in a region with snowfalls using single stud walls was a huge concern. huge concern. Building double stud walls could almost duplicate the weight of the treehouse, so this option could not be applied. SIPs present a good construction Building double stud walls could almost duplicate the weight of the treehouse, so this option could not be applied. SIPs present a good construction solution solution when considering weight and insulation but, as mentioned before, SIPs are made of a foam and are not necessarily sustainable materials. Nonetheless, when considering weight and insulation but, as mentioned before, SIPs are made of a foam and are not necessarily sustainable materials. Nonetheless, neither are neither are concrete, lumber, steel and clay bricks. All materials applied to construction are in some way unsustainable because their fabrication involves the concrete, lumber, steel and clay bricks. All materials applied to construction are in some way unsustainable because their fabrication involves the production of production of high quantities of pollutants and greenhouse gases. The question of how much is your building sustainable should be answered with all impacts it high quantities of pollutants and greenhouse gases. The question of how much is your building sustainable should be answered with all impacts it causes to the causes to the environment since the production of each element, their transportation, their construction and its behavior during the building lifespan. environment since the production of each element, their transportation, their construction and its behavior during the building lifespan. Analyzing the variables that involve the construction of the treehouse village - architectural program, structure’s weight, thermal insulation, sustainability, accessibility, Analyzing the variables that involve the construction of the treehouse village - architectural program, structure’s weight, thermal insulation, sustainability, accessibility, available materials, speed of construction, etc. - we chose a regular plan that could be supported by a single tree of a good size, to use lumber for the main support available materials, speed of construction, etc. - we chose a regular plan that could be supported by a single tree of a good size, to use lumber for the main support of the treehouse, and to use SIPs for floors and IMPs for walls and roofs. of the treehouse, and to use SIPs for floors and IMPs for walls and roofs.
Tree House Village | 58
Tree House Village | 59