This article was taken from the June issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online
German architect Andreas Wenning has turned every child’s dream into his job. In 2003 he started Baumraum -- literally “tree space” -- a Bremen-based studio that designs and builds treehouses suspended high in pines, oaks and alders. Held in place by steel cables and straps, these wooden shells -- equipped with flat-screen TVs, stereos, bathrooms and kitchens -- exist symbiotically with their host trees. "The experimental aspect of architecture has always fascinated me,” he explains. "Imagining a permanent structure among living organisms, which change shape and must resist wind and storms, is an exciting challenge.”
The model pictured above is 5.6 metres up in Djuren, Germany. Steel cables and textile straps distribute the horizontal weight of the 10.6m squared living area and the 16.4m squared terrace across two oaks. The vertical weight is distributed across four steel supports.
After an inspection to identify the ideal tree (if it’s too young or unable to sustain the weight, additional support posts are used), the prefabricated building is put into position using a crane.
Conifers are especially suitable for tree-houses, because the high level of resin in their bark ensures that a tree-house’s support bolts hold perfectly tight. The final cost ranges from about €18,000 to €140,000 (£16,000 to £130,000) depending on the complexity of the structure and the internal and external specs.
Even though the majority of Baumraum houses are not much bigger than a caravan, the “nest” provides a panoramic terrace, picture-windows and, depending on the brief, “everything that a normal house has. Except, maybe, a swimming pool.”
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/a_c/Bachstelze_abends2.jpg" alt="Treehouse"/>
Bachstelze, Austria: the cabin is suspended 4.6 metres up; eight oak supports spread the front-section weight.
<img src="http://cdni.wired.co.uk/674x281/k_n/melle_abends02.jpg" alt="Treehouse"/>
Melle, Germany: a 13.6 metre squared house is held 4.5 metres aloft by trees and a magnolia.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
