Avant-Garde and Sustainable on the Cheap

Avant-Garde and Sustainable on the Cheap

Another Spanish project by architect Santiago Cirugeda aims to create a community of simple treehouse/cliffhouse/stilthouse (kind of blends elements from all of these) structures for young people.

The idea is to provide a sustainable and environmental housing option to youth at an affordable price. This could be the first step in transforming social expectations about shelter requirements necessary for a basic standard of living.

The homes are designed to integrate with the landscape rather than dominate it. Each is 42 sq metres interior space plus about 20 sq metres of terrace. It strikes me as coincidental that these proportions are roughly the same as the cliff houses of Mesa Verde including the porch. We seem to have an archetypal attachment to this kind of space.

The city of Basauri is now considering the design as a place for young people to live. The proposal is for 35 wooden versions to be built in a natural setting around the Basozelai area for about 200 euros each. People may buy one, live in it up to 5 years, and have up to half of the money returned to them at the end of their stay.

As a treehouse aficionado, this type of idea would be perfect in a forest area on the edge of town. The canopy and natural terrain could provide additional meta shelter from the elements (cool in summer and protection from wind, snow, and rain) as well as promote the idea of environmentally symbiotic lifestyle options for youth -- and an alternative to the wage slave lifestyle of modern urban rental housing.

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