Treehouses : Not Just For Kids

Throughout history, the structure known as the “treehouse” to many people has changed its purpose, form, function, and scale in many ways. The treehouse began as a hunting necessity by the primitive hunters of the Stone Age. Beginning the transformations into the primary shelter of the Korowai people of Iran Jaya, and was sometimes used as a resting place for their dead. The treehouse had created new and innovative ideas for people to transport themselves from the ground and upward. The treehouse structure within the South Pacific and South East Asia had given the human being of a new tradition of refuge and shelter, protecting them from the elements of nature. When the treehouse had passed becoming a structure for shelter and protection to the primitive man, it had later became the structure for delight and escapism. Time periods dating back as Ancient Rome, Renaissance, and Romantic period have all showed of signs of the treehouse as a function of delight.

Today, the treehouse has changed once again. Now living in an environmentally cautious world, treehouse has become an alternative shelter. The methods of construction have changed dramatically, creating innovative methods to construct stronger, safer, larger/smaller, and environmentally safe treehouses. The type of issues that affect the treehouse design are being analyzed, and its impacts to its surroundings and the environmental damage that takes place from delivery vehicles bringing structural components to the project site, and the process of cutting down trees in order to produce wood studs to construct a home. The world had been taking notice into the multiple design issues of treehouses. International competitions are held to design the best and innovative treehouse design. Cases such as the Canopy Raft and The SolVin Bretzel were studied for the dynamic approach in design and scale of treehouse design.

The small structure of the treehouse has grown into an idea of a kid’s backyard playground to a environmental living solution. The world has now developing and changing the idea of the treehouse, and transforming its form and structure that could coexist with our rapidly changing environments.