mental_floss Blog & Treehouses for All Occasions There's something about a treehouse that appeals to all of us. Maybe it's the view, or getting close to nature, or reliving childhood memories. There are many ways to enjoy treehouses, no matter what age you are. A Treehouse Protest Beginning in 1997, Julia Butterfly Hill spent two years in a treehouse, 180 feet up in a tree named Luna to protest old-growth logging. Her treehouse was only a 6x8 foot tent, but she had plenty of visitors and conducted interviews via cellphone. The Treehouse as Art The Steampunk Tree House is a 30-foot-tall interactive work of art first exhibited at Burning Man. Hotels Sanya Nanshan You can find treehouse hotels all over the world. The Tree Houses Hotel The Tree Houses Hotel is a bed and breakfast in Costa Rica, in the rain forest near Arenal Volcano. Cedar Creek Treehouse Cedar Creek Treehouse at Mt. Permanent Homes If you want to live in a treehouse all the time, there are ways to do it. Grownup Retreats Treehouse Teahouse Free Spirit Spheres For Kids Tree Tent
Humble Designs tree tents by luminair nov 26, 2012 tree tents by luminair ‘tree tents’ by luminairall images courtesy of luminair the culmination of three years worth of research, these ‘tree tents’ by luminair are coming to forests near you. bringing awareness to the timber harvest and lifecycle, these suspended capsules bring comfortable and low impact retreats up in the canopies. the living spaces are contained by a sustainable structural frame enclosed with high density cotton canvas fabric. a combination of green ash wood and strong, lightweight hybrid aluminum sub-frame components are easily transported and assembled. steam-bent into a spherical shape, the form spreads loads across the structure to absorb movements of inhabitants. its 100% waterproof exterior is insulated with sheep wool, making the shelters perfect for year-round use and semi-permanent camps. it comes in olive green, red and natural. spherical tent suspended amidst tree trunks ladder leads into front door side window door entry fabric door rolled up bedroom
Sleepbox 01 by Arch Group Russian architects Arch Group have completed the first of their tiny hotel rooms for napping at airports. The Sleepbox unit at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport contains two beds and can be rented for between 30 minutes and several hours. The pod is equipped with LED reading lamps as well as sockets for charging laptops and mobile phones. This booth is constructed from ash-veneered MDF, although future units could instead be made from metal or glass-reinforced plastic. The Sleepbox concept was the most popular story on Dezeen back in November 2009 and received over 100 comments - see our earlier story here. Photography is by Arch Group/Ivanov Ilya. Here's some more information from Arch Group: Sleepbox Imagine the situation where you are in a modern city, you are not a local resident, and you have not booked a hotel. We believe that urban infrastructure should be more comfortable. Possible locations for Sleepbox include: In countries with a warm climate, Sleepbox can be used outdoors.
Small House Society: Resources for Life “Better Living Through Simplicity.” History. Founded in 2002, the Small House Society is a cooperatively managed organization dedicated to the promotion of smaller housing alternatives which can be more affordable and ecological. Mission. Media Contacts. Learn More. Directory of Builders. Featured Book World Interest Below are maps showing recent site visitors from around the world. Visitors – Global Visitors – Europe Visitors – North America Visitors – Australia Visitors – Asia Like this: Like Loading... Affordable and Versatile Sommerhaus Piu Prefab Vacation Home The collaboration between German industrial designers Patrick Frey and Björn Götte led to the construction of this small but comfortable vacation house named Sommerhaus Piu Prefab Vacation Home. The affordable house can act as a vacation home, a weekend retreat or even a year-round home for those with a small budget. The cabin home displays a modern design that stands out in the middle of nature with its slightly pitched roof and colour duality. Covered in horizontal wood planks, the prefabricated house was designed to offer its inhabitants both comfortable interior spaces and outdoor relaxation facilities.
Tiny House on a Trailer with Two Lofts and Big Porch This tiny house on a trailer is completely unique. The house is 24′ long and 8′ wide. The tallest point on it is 13’5″. And guess what? I had always wondered why this hadn’t been done and now I know that it has. This one has two sleeping lofts. It was listed for sale on Craigslist for $38,000 in the Santa Cruz, California area. There are so many possible uses for this house… Guest cabinRentalInstant addition What could you see yourself using it for? The deck is made out of redwood. The railings you see there are removable and the actual porch folds up. Below is what it looks like as you’re walking inside. Kitchen is towards your left and the full bathroom is on the right. Built in shelves you can use as an entertainment center with storage. Closer view of the kitchen shows you that it’s pretty much got everything you would need. In the picture below you can see the built in storage inside the wall to your right in the kitchen. Let’s go to the bathroom… Below are some close ups of the dormers.
Tiny House Living So what is the small house society and the small house movement all about? Let’s start with downsizing to a smaller house. If you want to simplify your life one of the smartest things you can do is move into a smaller space. And that’s what the small house movement is all about, isn’t it? Normal houses have become… Too expensive A pain to maintain Toxic to the environment Completely wasteful Basically these houses keep us strapped to what we all know as the rat race. And once we’re in, and have kids, we’re just stuck and it’s hard to get out. But that’s where a lot of people miss the point. The small house society is about… Simplicity and enjoying the beautiful things in life like nature, bicycling, walking, parks, books and other activities Technology. There’s an official small house society website that you can visit, the link will open up in a new window.
Inspiring Tree House by KAA Design Group The Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects is actually developing into the one-stop destination for amazing architecture. This time around, the KAA Design Group introduces this Tree House in Manhattan Beach. With lofty Southern Californian coasts to the fore, the unitary house (which obviously is not a tree house) combines aesthetic exteriors with stunning interiors studded with wood, concrete and glass. Appealing to the green-minded, the houses’ eco-friendly aspects are all taken care for with heating and cooling solutions, natural ventilation and exposure. Take a look at these wonderful images that depict some real spacey rooms with fireplaces, living rooms, bedrooms, spas or study rooms.
Yurt Lady After working exhaustively with the building department, plans were approved and I started to get to work. Actually, I started spending gross amounts of money to have other people start work. Although I was the official general contractor, I worked very closely with my framer who helped me understand the steps along the way and I took care of all the babysitting/haranguing of subcontractors. Whenever I could, I would do it myself, but unfortunately, that wasn’t until much later in the process. My first fatal move was my framer told me I couldn’t pour a round foundation so I had to raise everything up on a framed foundation. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Colorado doesn’t allow gray water systems and this is really unfortunate. Since I was going down the path of a raised foundation, I had to post posts in for the framing. I also learned that you should have your property leveled first before paying several thousand for the survey markers. Finally something I could do!
Relaxshacks.com 8 amazing micro-apartments This is a very wide sales promotion by the real estate lobby and industry to alter the minimum legal apartment size in New York City and elsewhere. They have the billionaire Mayor, who has several whole houses for himself, behind them and even set up a pr exhibit at The Museum of the City of New York to promote all the joys of cramming into smaller space! If they can only make them smaller, they say, the apartments will be cheaper and more plentiful! Yurt Lady on September 6, 2010 She has been living in a yurt for about 3 years. At 9,300 feet in rural Colorado. She has been writing about her life there for the last few months and showing everyone pictures and videos of what it’s like. When she was getting her construction approved by her local building department the staff there found her to be quite unique so she eventually became known as the yurt lady, hence the name of her blog. Her website has tips for those interested in living in a yurt as well–information on staying warm, insulating, construction time, windows, doors, and dealing with wind. She started out like most of us–tired of cleaning an over-sized home. She’s been living in a 16′ yurt to try things out and she’s currently in the process of constructing her larger 30′ yurt. I love stories like this so I wanted to share it on here. The following two tabs change content below. Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. Related