Treehouse Looks Like A Japanese Lantern on Stilts

Treehouse Looks Like A Japanese Lantern on Stilts

I like the site inhabitat because they have a blog that features some pretty cool treehouses. Recently they blog'd about one by Lukasz Kos, also featured in dwell magazine.

Lukasz Kos is a cofounder of Testroom, a Toronto-based architecture and design firm, and built this tree house on Lake Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. Some people have called his design a "Japanese lantern on stilts", which I'd interpret as a compliment.

I like that it stands out from the backdrop: The slatted horizontal lines and sharply defined box cut contrasts with the surrounding trees and natural organic forms. Yet, the ideas and design put into materials and the layout of the living space compliment the in-forest living experience.

Like the previous entry I made, this design predominantly uses horizontal pine slats to form the exterior walls. Is this method turning out to be a defining feature in modern treehouse design?

Slat walls seem to be so popular because they are light weight, cheap in material costs, and structurally rigid. And they offer unique functional qualities that are desirable for treehouses: Slat walls create warm natural light diffusion, provide good air circulation, and act as a floor-to-ceiling safety railing.

I'm also taken by the use of a sliding door on the front of the house (also the hallmark of modern treehouse?). This looks to me like a great way to open up an enclosed room to the outdoors. Who needs to open windows when the wall can slide down?

The home has three floors: the lower one is the enclosed room, the second floor is a semi enclosed room with open slat walls, and the top floor is an open air deck.

The entire structure hangs from the four trees that pass through it. Cables connect from the structure and extend above the roof to attachment points on the trees far above. Although this method is the most tree friendly approach, the treehouse experiences more swaying motion during windy conditions than other designs.

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