Man lives in tree after domestic spat

Man lives in tree after domestic spat

The BBC wrote an article on a man who chose to abandon his village life for a solitary treehouse lifestyle after a spat with his wife. Kapila has lived 25 feet up in the air, deep in the east Indian jungle, in a thatch treehouse for the past 15 years.

This case makes me think of people's motivation for living in treehouses and the idea of protection through physical remoteness. There is also a mystique bound up in living in such a self imposed state of exile, like the wise man atop a mountain, that suggest the dweller as an independent, or recluse.

This form of living is bound up with concepts of escape, sanctuary, and a place to safely remove one's self from social problems. It offers an alternative solution to life in more concentrated and over-accessible places. And, sometimes, it is nice to be able to get away from people and closer to nature.

This story also makes me think of the safety concerns associated with living in a tree house. After all, one's body contains so much potential energy at these heights that a fall can be fatal. Particularily when no one is around to help. In Kaplia's case, villigers sometimes walk out to check in on him, and bring him food.

There was a major cause for concern in 1999 when a cyclone moved through the area, with winds of 300 km/h, and destroyed many traditional huts and killed thousands of local people. Kaplia was able to ride out the storm in his make shift home, in part, because it is inherently protected by the jungle. Clearing the vegetation to build traditional huts made those structures vulnerable to severe weather such as wind and flood.

Also, the technique he used of lashing branches together with fibre and positioning the platfom in the crotch of a large tree is very flexible and stable. There is a beauty and simplicity in this design and an inherant sustainability not recognized my many. And, a lifestyle that is reserved for the wise recluse who wishes to counter balance the problems associated with too much social exposure.

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Tear Drop Tree Tents

Tear Drop Tree Tents

I found the website of a Dutch artist, Dré Wapenaar, who builds tear drop shaped tents intended to hang in a tree.

They are metal framed structures about 9 feet in diameter and about 12 feet high. Room enough to sleep two adults and two children on the main floor.

The structures are designed to be temporary shelters that are easily transportable and yet comfortable enough to live in with minimal impact on the surroundings.

The following is a quote from Dré Wapenaar in his speech at the Intenational Design Conference, Aspen Colorado, june 2001:

“The story of my tents as they relate to campsites, however, started with the TREETENTS which were originally designed for the ROAD ALERT GROUP in ENGLAND. This group of activists fight against the excessive constructing of highways through forests. During their protest they cover themselves and hide and live in the trees to fight as long as possible against the rushing violence of the chain sawers. The TREETENTS would provide a comfortable place for them to stay during their habitation of the forest and prevent the trees from being cut down. Even though I designed the tents for use by the ROAD ALERT GROUP the project never happened. Before I finished it, a representative from a campsite saw the drawings of the TREETENTS and convinced me to sell them this project. It was a huge success; and is still in use today."

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Temporary Urban Shelter

Temporary Urban Shelter

This tree house design from Recetas Urbanas speaks to the homeless problem I disscussed earlier. It is an installation from 2001 in Sevilla designed as temporary shelter for the urban guerrilla.

The modus operandi as quoted in their site:
- Occupation of a tree with provisional shelter.
- Resistance to urban politics.
- Light construction systems.
- Reversible colonization strategy.
- Dynamics of social adhesion.
- Lucid, but destabilizing, action.
- Instantaneous temporal sequence.


I like this architectural design approach to validating a transient lifestyle. I'm sure there are many urban planners, city counsellors, and bylaw enforcement types who would totally hate the idea -- it promotes chaos, lawlessness, and homelessness -- but the real reason I suspect it would freak out the type A personalities is because it doesn't fit into their control structure! And, I believe behaving in ways that may make these people freak out is okay because cultivating a degree of personal independence is a healthy thing for people to do.

"It is not necessary to justify what should be obvious concerning the inability of urban planning to define the development and growth of a city that finds itself incapable of action given the changes in political attitudes, which means an absolute submission to the demands of the market and ground speculation." Is the city really concerned about an individual's capacity to meet their basic shelter needs?

A profound design, like this urban shelter, is like an objectified how-to manual: How to enable the environmental nomad, urban guerrilla, social demonstrator, and modern gypsy. It embodies an easy step-by-step guide on how to empower people who want to live without excessive infrastructure; how to practice alternate lifestyle techniques; how to aquire an alternate lifestyle point-of-view.

And the funny thing is that revolutionary objects don't really tell you anything. They are just props that are really good at helping you write your own life manual. People innately want to learn and grow, to build their own adaptive repetoir, existential flexibility, and the capacity to self-sustain their humanity. However, whenever, wherever.

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Which is Goodier: The street or a tree platform?

Which is Goodier: The street or a tree platform?

I found this image on Flickr by "hugovk" in Manchester UK. Its a simple platform in a tree with ladder rungs nailed into the trunk. A minimalist's dream.

At first glance I viewed it as a tree house made for kids because it is located in front of a playground. And it probaby is given the size of the platform and the weight bearing capacity of the branches.

But then, the shopping cart and the street sign got me thinking about this from the street person's point-of-view. It reminded me of an event earlier in my day, when I saw a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk.

He was wrapped in a sleeping bag nestled in the space between a bus shelter and a building. Cardboard tucked underneath and plastic draped overtop to buffer the harshness. It was a hard, cold, and vulnerable place for anyone to be.

The coincidence of these two events got me thinking: Where in this picture would you sleep if you had no other options? Would a minimal platform like this be a desirable shelter in the same way that a nook on the street is.

What is the difference between sleeping in the street and sleeping in the trees? I'm struck by the recognition that the tree platform, and the sidewalk, are a roughly equivilant low standard of shelter. But somehow there is difference between struggling against the elemental hardships in a primative tree platform, compared to struggling against the elements in a public space.

It has something to do with isolation, I think. To be isolated up in a tree is somehow intentional, like its elevation above the ground makes it a chosen place of physical retreat; whereas on the street, there is no physical isolation -- it is a retreat acheived through an intentional social disconnection and it has a dehumanizing consequence.

This makes me wonder if tree platforms would be a viable option of humanitarian aid. I think of some of the homeless who are diligent recycling collectors. And, I wonder if they would make equally good tree curators if permitted to build an isolated platform in the branches.

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Mitchell Joachim's Fab Hab

Mitchell Joachim's Fab Hab

Mitchell has a cool site with some visionary architectural ideas.

One of my favorites is the pleached tree house -- a home grown from live plants that are woven and bent into shape as sapplings to form the structure.

The obvious comment: "Man, that must take a long time to make." And it's true, the 'build' would take years, but that may not be such a bad thing.

Commitment to a grow-it-yourself design has some benefits. For example, it could accomodate the requirements of an expanding family by sprouting an annex. And, it could theoretically heal itself when damaged. But the big benefit is that the owners would have a vested interest in maintaining the health of their property as a living system.

I'm impressed by Mitchell's proposition that people can live in co-existence with the local flora. I suspect many people find this proposition to be 'way out there' because it attempts to answer problems that many people are still struggling to identify and recognize in their own lives.

I think the idea of a pleached tree house is beautiful because it emphasizes a symbiotic relationship with, rather than domination over, the environment. I like that it contradicts the assumption that wealth is about the possession of commodified inanimate objects. With the Fab Hab, domestic wealth and reward comes from the time and care invested into one's existence with the land. And, I really like that you just can't outright buy the instant gratification of the biggest, lastest, and greatest.

Mitchell's vision is a deceptively well crafted design for social change. You see, our homes hold a special value to us because they protect us from elements and they are where we let our guard down and be most vulnerable. Choosing where we live, and what we live in, defines our sense of place and grounds our daily lives.

To me, the Fab Hab is a vision of a living sanctuary, a sustainable envelope, and symbiotic connection with our environment.

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Andrew Thurnheer's Treehouse

Andrew Thurnheer's Treehouse

Here is an article about Andrew Thurnheer's treehouse -- a two story cabin style structure set on top of telephone poles some 40 feet up in the trees.

Interesting to note the cross bracing used to stabilize the poles and give the supporting structure more rigidity.

This solid option makes me think about the paradox of treehouse design: The most rigid option is not always the strongest option.

I personally prefer to affix the structure to living trees, with floating connection points, for the best strength and cleanest look. Building in flexibility will let your treehouse sway and flex with the tree's natural movements and avoid structural failure from the motion involved in extreme storm conditions.

I like Andrew's home because it is a classic example of a practical and sustainable abode -- and because he actually lives in there. Its an admirable lifestyle choice and he has built in some nice luxuries like an elevator. What more do you really need?

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Introduction

Introduction

So, you thinking about building a tree house? There's plenty of reasons why you'd want to. But most people I've talked to get hung up on the pragmatic 'how-to' part. Thats where I can help.

You see, treehouses are couched in fantasy. This makes it easy to imagine one, or talk about how cool it would be to make one, or to close your eyes and think about what it'd be like to live in one. This is the allure of the thing, the pull of the fantastic, and is what often motivates people to look into treehouses in the first place. But then, how to you turn that desire into reality?

The childhood longing for a place to play in the trees easily gets quashed by the logical and practical adult editor: It'll be too much trouble, too much hassle, and probably unsafe. I could waste my time, my money, and mabey even get hurt! Well, I can tell you from first hand experience that your childhood dreams can be made into a reality with a little help. You just need some facts and well defined plans to shut that adult editor up and let your pure, innocent, childhood fantasies reign.

In this blog I'm going to tell you about the real experiences of living in a treehouse. It'll set some detailed expectations that you can pair up with your own fantasies. I'm going to go over the practical aspects of construction such as expectaions about cost and size. And, I'll tell you about some things like tips and tricks you've probably never even thought of before that will help you sort out the ideal treehouse structure.

More to come,

Dave

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