I’ve always been fascinated by tree houses and have been wanting to do a treehouse design post since I saw this. Unfortunately, My friend Eve Politanoff beat me to it. Twice.
I think all of the obvious comments about fantasy and folly are well expressed by the various images seen through the links. I’ve also already posted a bit about architectural folly and architectural follies. Tree houses are the perfect place for an amusement.
When I was quite young, say about 12, my family visited the Welcome Center for the then under construction Disney World in Florida. Leave it to the Mouse to find a way to charge people to see something they had not yet built. This is the company that has never had a toll free phone number. After seeing the models and the renderings of what we could come back to experience, we bought the souvenir book.
What I remember about the souvenir book was a likely contrived story about a construction worker coming home to discuss his work that day on the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. The point was that working on Disney World was like nothing he had ever done before. This was before I discovered theatre and decided to pursue my career in set design. Obviously, this moment has remained with me for a long time. On two levels, I think.
So, the house above and left has allowed me to tie a bunch of things together into one post. It is not a tree house, but it is a house in trees. It is very clearly Modernist. It is dramatic. It is clean. It is Theatrical. It looks like the perfect small home or the perfect get-away place. I’ve always felt that a get-away should involve minimal maintenance and maximum enjoyment.
The wood and concrete compliment each other well and the spaces are warm and inviting. This structure would work well in the mountains or on a beach. Or on a city lot.
–Kevin Lee Allen
I like that one !!