Tree House Design by Santiago

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Origin Room Century-old Oak supports treehouse guest room in northern France.

Tree Hotel

Ik Lab Gallery

Set to open this weekend. Located in Harads, Sweden about 60 km south of the Arctic Circle.

Peggy Guggenheim’s great-grandson creates Tulum’s treehouse version of a museum.

TREE HOUSE DESIGN

Editor-in-Chief Santiago Fernández Art Director Santiago Fernández Managing Editor Santiago Fernández

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Assistant Editor Santiago Fernández

Glass Tree House

Origin Tree House

Djuren Tree House

Harads Tree Hotel

Floating Tree Room

Inhabit Tree House

M Tree Room

Ik Lab Tree Gallery

Living Tree House

Editorial Puebla, México October, 2018 Tree House Design, presents the contemporary interpretion of tree houses. Modern times have shifted the way we build, shaping our everyday lifestyle. Illustrated with images from top photographers in the field, the magazine covers modern and sustainable architecture in addition to a variety of building types, including hotel rooms, galleries and houses.

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Glass Tree House Philip Stevens

This transparent glass treehouse in mexico city sits above its own micro forest. Location: Mexico City, Mexico. Architect: Gerardo Broissin Project year: 2017 Client: Cabanes des grands chênes Dimensions: 7 sqm Photography: Alexander d’la Roche

n Mexico City, architect Gerardo Broissin has built a transparent treehouse using glass rather than wood. The structure is titled ‘chantli kuaulakoyokan’, which means ‘house in the tree top’ in Nahuatl — Mexico’s most spoken indigenous language. The scheme is located at the foothills of the sierra de las cruces, a long mountain range situated to the west of the city center. The design evokes feelings of childhood and of the desire for an independent place of refuge. However, rather than using conventional timber for the treehouse’s construction, Broissin reinterpreted the typology using glass. This gesture intends

to highlight the loss of a child’s innocence over time, with warm wood being replaced by cold glazing. The treehouse also makes reference to ‘privacidad’, a play by mexican actor Diego Luna, where the supposed privacy promised by social media is questioned. In this way, the project asks visitors to reflect on the themes of security and privacy — in both physical and virtual forms. In addition to the glass structure, Broissin has created a lushly planted ‘micro forest’. ‘chantli kuaulakoyokan’ forms part of design house, an event that takes place each year as part of design week Mexico.

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Origin Tree House Philip Stevens

Atelier LAVIT has created a hotel room that wraps around a century-old oak tree in France. Location: Château de Raray, 60810 Raray, France. Architect: Atelier LAVIT Project year: 2017 Client: Cabanes des grands chênes Dimensions: 23 sqm Photography: Marco Lavit Nicora

nspired by the form and function of a bird’s nest, the design team refers to the structure as a ‘tailored wooden-dress’. Named the ‘ORIGIN tree house’, the scheme seeks to provide shelter as a natural part of the existing landscape. Located in the forested grounds of château Raray, a castle in northern France, the dwelling is accessed via a walkway suspended 10 meters above ground. Guests first encounter a protected ‘patio’ that serves as the entrance to the tree house. Two sliding glass doors provide easy access to the dwelling’s interior, which develops in succession: first the living area; then the bedroom; and finally, a narrow

corridor that contains a dressing room and a bathroom. Each of the interior spaces feature large windows that overlook the forest and its impressive foliage. The generously proportioned openings also ensure a bright and welcoming atmosphere. The wall’s inner lining is made out of pale poplar, which offers a subtle scent, while furniture pieces — constructed from horizontal layers of wood — have also been custom-made by atelier LAVIT. From the patio, a ladder leads to the terrace — a secluded rooftop deck hidden behind the tree house’s wooden cladding. the design team refers to the structure as a ‘tailored wooden-dress’

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Djuren Tree House Trent Fredrickson

Baumraum places elliptical pod around two oaks for treehouse djuren. Location: Groß Ippener, North Germany Architect: Baumraum Year: 2014 Interior area: 10.6 sqm Terrace area: 16.4 sqm Photography: Alasdair Jardine

o serve as a comfortable escape for a family on a wooded property in northern Germany, Baumraum has completed the “treehouse djuren” around two large oaks. The structure is characterized by its egg-shaped profile, which is accentuated by elliptical windows and glossy white façade finish. the interior space is comprised of sleeping benches covered in gray felt, and provides many views to the forested context. From below, the treehouse is accessed via two ship ladders, which are separated by a lower terrace at a height of 3.8 meters above the ground plane. The second deck is located 5.6 meters in the air, and contains entry

to the elevated pod. The small dwelling’s vertical load is carried by four inclined steel supports, while it is structurally stiffened through its connections to the trees. The two oaks also bear the weight of the two terraces, through a system of cables and textile straps. In contrast to the white ends of the egg-shaped pod, the volume’s underside as well as the terraces are made of wood, while the roof is clad in sheet zinc. A curved window is integrated into the rounded front façade, providing an additional view outward. Great architectural piece.

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Harads Tree Hotel Ridhika Naidoo The ‘treehotel’ is set to open this weekend. Located in Harads, Sweden about 60 km south of the Arctic Circle. Location: Harads, Sweden Architect: Various Project year: 2010 Dimensions: 15-30 sqm Photography: Ateljé Lyktan

he project was conceived by tree hotel co-founder Kent Lindvall, a former guidance counselor who came up with the concept with his wife Britta; currently consisting of four rooms: The Cabin, The Blue Cone, The Nest and the Mirrorcube. Two additional structures are scheduled to open in October: the UFO and a room with a view. These first six structures were designed by five different architects; Sand-

ell & Sandberg, interior group ab, Marten Cyrene, Inredningsgruppen and Tham & Videgard architects. Design Boom reported in 2009 on the ‘treehotel’ in its concept stage: ‘‘Harads’ tree hotel‘. The mirrored structure appears to disappear in low light. The ‘mirrorcube’, designed by Tham & Videgard architects stands four meters high and four meters wide, and has drawn widespread attention as it will be attached to a single tree and is clad entirely in mirrored glass. ‘Everything will reflect in this – the trees, the birds, the clouds, the sun, everything. So it should be invisible nearly in the forest. ‘– Kent Lindvall Each of the rooms, vary in size from 15 to 30 square meters and are positioned in pine trees between four and six meters from the ground. They have

all been constructed from wood and glass and feature an electric floor heating system, a state-ofthe-art eco-friendly incineration toilet and a water-efficient hand basin. Lindvall says a special film will be applied to the glass which will be visible to birds. This is just one of the steps being taken to minimize tree hotel’s impact on local wildlife says Anette Selberg, who is in charge of crafting an excursion program for guests. ‘This is untouched forest and we want to maintain it the same way. We decided for example to not offer snowmobile safari which is very common up here,’ says Selberg. Instead, wilderness walks will be offered. The vision of the treehotel is proving to be a powerful draw from enquiries coming from far and wide. ‘…mainly from Europe, but I know that New Zealand has been contact-

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TREE HOUSE DESIGN

ing us as well as Australia…’ The ‘blue cone’ room is founded on three points of support. Access to the tree room is by a bridge from the mountain behind. The building is a traditional wood construction with a facade of split birch. The windows and cupola are made of plastic. When Cyrene and Cyrene visited Harads to view possible sites, they formulated an idea around a horizontal approach: a footbridge leading to a spacious deck. It offers the potential for future expansion, with additional tree houses and footbridges (as well as viewing platforms and

places to rest). The basic shape of the deck comes from the supporting trees in the slope. The actual tree house is suspended from the deck. This will hide the volume of the building to a certain degree. The deck is slightly separated from the building in order to make it appear smaller and also to allow the building its own expression. The ‘bird’s nest’ room designed by Inredningsgruppen, based upon the contrast between exterior and interior. From the outside it appears as a big nest, only the scale separating it from other nests in the vicinity. Discreet windows are almost hidden by the network of branches. Inside it’s a high standard room with modern design. A coachwork panel decorates the inner wall. There is space and beds for a family with two children.

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Floating Tree Room Rob Reuland

Seemingly floating among the forest canopy of pine trees in northern Sweden, Snohetta has completed ‘the 7th room’. Location: Harads, Sweden Architect: Snøhetta Project year: 2017 Dimensions: 55 sqm Photography: Ateljé Lyktan

n the tall pine forest of Northern Sweden, where the tricolored tree trunks stretch up to the soaring crowns, a new addition to the renowned Treehotel opened in January 2017. The contemporary tree cabin hovers at 10 meters above the snow-laden forest floor and constructed with the aim to bridge the gap between people and nature. This 55 meter space hosts two bedrooms, a social lounge area, bathroom, and an outdoor terrace installed with a netted base. Snohetta’s design is based on a traditional Nordic cabin; the structure is supported by twelve columns and the wooden façade clad with charred boards

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of pine. Internally, the surfaces have been completed in light finishes, such as ash wood, while birch plywood is used for the walls – creating an overall cozy Nordic atmosphere- that contrasts to the dark exterior. The space is laid out on two levels with only 30 cm difference in height. The lounge area is located on the lower floor, while the bedrooms are on the upper, where guests can sleep in the sunken beds. The cabin accommodates up to five people and after traveling to the isolated location, guests enter via a staircase from the ground, taking them up into the cabin, while a small lift is available for transporting luggage. Floor-to-ceiling glass façades open up to uninterrupted views of the distant Lule River and Lapland treetops. The north-facing window gives guests an opportunity to catch glimpses of the aurora borealis, hence the name the “northern light lounge”. A large glass door leads from the lounge area out on the netted terrace; the double-layered net spans between the two bedrooms with a pine tree growing through the middle. This outdoor net area is an extension of the lounge, offering a playful opportunity to be fully immersed with the pristine natural surroundings. In an age where unique and fully immersive experiences is the ultimate luxury, the 7th room will no doubt be a popular destination.

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Inhabit Tree House Rob Reuland

A tad out of the ordinary, this elevated home in Woodstock, New York only meets the ground at three points. Location: Woodstock, New York, United States Architect: Anthony Gibbon Project year: 2017 Photography: Morriarty

hile not a treehouse in the traditional sense, it’s called so by the architect for its structural similarity to a tree and its attempt to adhere to the natural environment. ‘Inhabit Woodstock’ was conceived by architect Antony Gibbon, whose designs have been touted for their environmental responsibility and cohesion with the landscape. Inspired by nature and geometry, he creates designs that are unique and contemporary as well as practi-

cal and achievable. The house is rustic yet comforting; its wood siding is familiar, yet its trapezoidal shape is exciting. The structure camouflages itself well into the environment. This home by Antony Gibbon uses the same materials as its neighbors — an assortment of local lumber. Attention is given to the human scale of the project; the ceilings are never too low to be claustrophobic, nor too high to deplete the sensation of coziness. Even as you climb the ladder to the loft, you never feel afraid of bumping your head. Glass is widely employed to clearly exhibit the serene natural surroundings. Windows are integrated into the shifting shape of the home, as opposed to simple cut-outs — an integration with very successful effect. The space consists of an open plan lounge, wood burner and Kitchen with a spacious loft

bedroom above. In the rear of the building is a separate shower room and bathroom with second bedroom at the rear which could easily become an office studio space. The structure has two balconies, either side of the kitchen/lounge area with a large terrace underneath that leads down to the Lake and hot tub. Antony sees the environment as an important driving force behind his work, each structure is individually created to consider the surroundings using sustainable materials wherever possible. He aims to create the connection between Nature & Nurture, seeking a path to merge one into the other. To combine each unique, bespoke structure and its individual habitat and to develop harmony, so they grow together. - Anthony Gibbons

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M Tree Room

Danny Hudson

Treehouse M is a weekend getaway home hoisted high into the tree canopies of mount Qi Yun, China. Location: Anhui, China Architect: Andong Lu and Pingping Dou Project year: 2016 Interior Area: 40 sqm Terrace area: 30 sqm Photography: Bowen Hou

nvisioned as an intimate space for couples, the tree house carefully negotiates full immersion into the natural parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s landscape while maintaining a certain level of privacy for its guests. The project incorporates some elements of traditional Chinese design with a contemporary interpretation, as the floor plan is developed through a series of eight prefabricated modular frames that were elevated and opened into their final forms. Using a timber and steel structure fabricated off-site, the project minimizes its construction impact on site and expedited the total build time while materials kept at their

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standard sizes further lends to the structureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recyclability. A wooden walkway leads to the entry where spaced frames form a semi-covered portico with characteristic cross bracing that uses slightly offset positioning to form a more sinuous design element throughout the residence. Upon entering, the dressing room and washroom flank a central hallway that leads to the main bedroom, conceived as a room within a room. Linear windows along the wooden walls immerse the interior to the greenery outside, made private through the use of light curtains. At the far end, a glass wall with embedded door accentuates the M-shaped envelope, providing views down the lush valley and the mountains beyond. Outside,

the frame structure once again. spaces out to form a semi-enclosed terrace with the shifting cross braces. A bathtub on the deck provides for an intimate space that fully immerses guests into the surrounding nature.

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Ik Lab Tree Gallery Kieron Marchese

Peggy Guggenheim’s great-grandson creates Tulum’s treehouse version of a museum. Location: Tulum, Mexico Architect: Jorge Eduardo Neira Serkel and Santiago Rumney Guggenheim Project year: 2018 Photography: Fernando Artigas

onceived by the grandson of Peggy Guggenheim, IK LAB, a contemporary art gallery that recently opened in Tulum, Mexico, promises to transcend the traditional confines of the art museum. The gallery is experienced in part by your feet and through the various materials encountered as visitors navigate the immersive treehouse-like structure. Set within the grounds of the eco-friendly Azulik resort, the gallery is the brainchild of the resort’s founder and selftaught architect Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel. Despite its heavy use of timber, no trees were used in the construction of the space made up a series of twisting, undulating floors and doorways. Large round windows give way to natural light which permeates the space built of walls which have been reinforced with transparent fiberglass. Far from the clinical aesthetic of most art spaces, visitors are invited to walk barefoot interacting with the floor as a living organism. From polished cement to raw wooden floors in bejuco wood, a vine-like plant native to the region, varying de-

grees of hot and cold pull focus to the surrounding nature. IK LAB‘s gallery extends to a domed structure which rises 12-meters above ground and has been built according to ancient principles of sacred geometry. The organic shapes and meandering expanses of the unique exhibition space intend to immerse the visitor in a meditative state, serving as a gateway to discovery and connectedness. The gallery opened on april 20, 2018 with its inaugural exhibition alignments, curated by santiago r. guggenheim. the show features works by tatiana trouvé, artur lescher and margo trushina, exploring the human journey through both physical and metaphysical realms. “This is the counter model of the standard gallery,” says Santiago Rumney Guggenheim, since curators typically prefer the reliable blank canvas of straight white walls. But when Rumney Guggenheim moved to Tulum in January (having grown up in Paris and lived in New York, where he temporarily had a gallery of his own), he immediately proposed that Sterkel turn the site into a gallery.

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Living Tree House Danny Hudson

Mithun erects the sustainability tree house in the dense forest of west virginia

ith a little bit of luck and perhaps a map, a trek through the dense forest of the summit Bechtel reserve in west Virginia may lead you to American practice Mithun‘s ‘sustainability treehouse.’ Tree trunks have been exchanged for steel columns and leafy canopies for energy-generating rooftops. A multidisciplinary team worked hand in hand to create a state of the art facility commissioned by the boy scouts of America and the living building challenge which serves as ‘a unique icon of camp adventure, environmental stewardship and innovative building design.’ Set within a corten steel frame,

Location: West Virginia, United States Architect: Mithun Design Project year: 2013 Dimensions: 312 sqm Photography: Mithun

various cantilevering masses set at the various vertical zones of the ecosystem – ground, canopy, and sky- offer an interactive and visually stunning educational spaces for children to learn about the environment. The construction itself exemplifies the very ideals it is set to communicate; photovoltaic panels and qr5 wind generators produce the energy used on site, while a large cistern collects and cleanses water. The structure’s root system is manifested as concrete pylons that support the metal stilts securing the forms above, limiting the direct intervention on the ground and saving on unnecessary pads that would also destroy a larger

portion of the forest bed. bridges shoot between the trees at the different levels, adding an element of adventure and exploration extrapolated to a much larger scale, coaxing visitors to proceed from room to room as they get unparalleled views of the forest while learning of the latest sustainable technologies.

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