Building With Whole Trees

[TheMercenary]

ROALD GUNDERSEN, an architect who may revolutionize the building industry, shinnied up a slender white ash near his house here on a recent afternoon, hoisting himself higher and higher until the limber trunk began to bend slowly toward the forest floor.

“Look at Papa!” his life and business partner, Amelia Baxter, 31, called to their 3-year-old daughter, Estella, who was crouching in the leaves, reaching for a mushroom. Their son, Cameron, 9 months, was nestled in a sling across Ms. Baxter’s chest.

Wild mushrooms and watercress are among the treasures of this 134-acre forest, but its greatest resource is its small-diameter trees — thousands like the one Mr. Gundersen, 49, was hugging like a monkey.

“Whooh!” he said, jumping to the ground and gingerly rubbing his back. “This isn’t as easy as it used to be. But see how the tree holds the memory of the weight?”

The ash, no more than five inches thick, was still bent toward the ground. Mr. Gundersen will continue to work on it, bending and pruning it over the next few years in this forest which lies about 10 miles east of the Mississippi River and 150 miles northwest of Madison.

Loggers pass over such trees because they are too small to mill, but this forester-architect, who founded Gundersen Design in 1991 and built his first house here two years later, has made a career of working with them.

continues:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/garden/05tree.html

slideshow
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...how_index.html

[xoxoxoBruce]

“It’s remarkable how many people have called this last year asking for 1,000-square-foot houses,” Ms. Baxter said. “People are downsizing for their retirement homes, and even younger folks are thinking about energy costs, environmental awareness and simplicity.”

Whole Trees can keep construction costs as low as $100 a square foot, not including site preparation, if the client is willing to shop for secondhand fixtures and the like.

Very cool, but not cheap. Site prep, (land, water, sewer, foundation, driveway, utilities, etc) is usually expensive, also.

Oh, and the safety nazis will have a hemorrhage with this.

[DanaC]

Hah. That looks a little like the bed my bro built his eldest daughter when she was about 4 years old. Used whole treetrunks to build a bunk bed with a cavelike area underneath and then decorated the ceiling with glow in the dark stars....did constellations and everything.

Said eldest neice is now 15 and is currently *glances at watch* enjoying a big party with a bunch of her mates in her newly constructed treehouse which is slung between three trees in the back garden (complete with balcony and observation deck).


[eta] Mart's been building that tree house for months. The basic building was up in the Summer, but the past few weeks he's gone all out to get it finished and ready for the big Guy Falkes weekend sleepover party *chuckles* Worries me sometimes. He was up there in a gale and heavy rain doing the balcony rail the other night. The ladder blew down and he had to climb back down through the trees lol. It's an amazing piece of work. Has windows and is clad for waterproofing but done in such a way that it just blends in with the woodland. He's planning on turning the observation deck into a proper hide. That would be the observation deck that is the second floor of the tree house. I believe his next step is to build a sister construction in another clump of trees and sling a rope bridge across to join them. The balcony goes around the house and the outside of two of the trees.

[Shawnee123]

Gorgeous and different. I like.

[Griff]

Really brilliant stuff.

[Cloud]

I grew up in a house built by my parents that was a classic mid-century modern. It was in a hilly, very wooded area, and we had several trees piercing our deck, so this seems normal to me. There was a stream (with a lot of poison oak around); and bay laurel trees--mom used to send me to pick leaves off those trees to season dinner.

[ZenGum]

I would love to live in a house like that. And I'd love to see photos of the treehouse Dana has described (hint hint).

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Cloud

I grew up in a house built by my parents that was a classic mid-century modern. It was in a hilly, very wooded area, and we had several trees piercing our deck, so this seems normal to me. There was a stream (with a lot of poison oak around); and bay laurel trees--mom used to send me to pick leaves off those trees to season dinner.

Oh that sounds so idyllic!

[Cloud]

Here are pics of it I found one time. Looks like it's seen better days, but that's the house:

http://www.tomneel.com/site/properti...s/more/id/405/

in this pic you can see some of the trees through the deck:

[xoxoxoBruce]

And a whole acre of ground, for 2 million bucks.