10 UNUSUAL STRUCTURES MADE OUT OF TREES

Grow Your Own Architecture: Unusual Structures Made Out of Trees
By Claire Cottrell, Flavor Wire, 25 June 2012.

Today would be the 160th birthday of our favourite nature-loving Spanish Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí. His appreciation and love of nature is often credited to the sun-drenched summers he spent as a child in the Tarragona province of Spain, an idyllic landscape known for hazelnuts, olive oil, and a raucous festival featuring human castles and bestiary.

In honour of Gaudí’s greatest achievement, the mind-blowing Sagrada Família in Barcelona whose stunning nave is without a doubt the most beautiful architectural and artistic representation of a tree ever created, we’ve taken a look at some of today’s most inspired contemporary living designs. From nest houses to cherry blossom retreats, click through to check out the very best of architecture you can grow.

1. The Patient Gardener Study Retreat by VISIONDIVISION - Milan, Italy

Appropriately named, this two-story study retreat grown out of 10 intertwined Japanese cherry blossom trees will be fully formed in about 60 years. Image credit: Architizer.

2. The Nest Houses by Patrick Dougherty - New Harmony, Indiana, USA

Live in a giant nest designed by sticks works pioneer James Dougherty. Image credit: stickwork.

3. Asakusa Tree by RAA Architects - Tokyo, Japan

A living façade proposed for the entrance to Sosenji-Temple, a popular tourist destination in Tokyo. Each floor “is supported by spiralled pillars that grow like a vine,” and the building itself runs off of natural energy from the sun, wind, and rain. Image credit: Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects via design boom.

4. Ground Beneath by Jaakko Pernu - Nallikari, Oulu, Finland

The ultimate open-air pavilion cum tree house that offers hours of climbing fun. Image credit: Wall-Mag.

5. Ficus House - Okinawa, Japan

Inspired by the great arborsmith and creator of the tree circus, Axel Erlandson, this fast-growing ficus tree house is something you can literally plant and watch grow. Image credit: Arborsmithing.

6. Tree Home by RAA - Osaka, Japan

An open-air home inspired by a tree. Image credit: iGreenspot.

7. Fab Tree Hab by Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona - USA

Architects Mitchell Joachim and Javier Arbona, along with environmental engineer Lara Greden, have “designed a house that will grow from a few seedlings into a two-story, water-recycling, energy-efficient abode.” Fab tree hab indeed. Image credit: Popular Science via Edward Cotton.

8. Botany Buildings by Oliver Storz, Ferdinand Ludwig and Hannes Schwertfeger – Stuttgart, Germany

In time, this clever arbo-architecture is designed to support itself. Why cut down trees for timber when you can just plant them for solid, living structural support? Image credit: inhabitat.

9. Baubotanical Tower by Ferdinand Ludwig - Neue Kunst am Ried, Germany

This gorgeous lookout tower naturally changes form with the seasons. Image credit: Ferdinand Ludwig.

10. Chopstick Concession Stand and Swingset by VISIONDIVISION - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Taking cues from a simple wooden chopstick, this snack stand swing hybrid is built out of one single log (aka a “chopstick”). Image credit: VISIONDIVISION.

Top image: Asakusa Tree (left) and Le Land Art de Jaakko Pernu (right)

[Source: Flavor Wire. Edited. Top image added.]

Related Post: 10 Amazing Tree Houses From Around The World.