Tree Houses: The Latest Architecture and News

Milan-based architecture studio Peter Pichler has designed an eco-resort to develop a new concept of hospitality in the European Alpine region. Dubbed the YOUNA Nature Resorts, the complex follows the mountain’s silhouette to offer a maximized relaxation experience. The A-shape typology allows wide opens the front facade to connect with nature while reaching high-private interiors under the same roof. The resort is the last of the studio’s series of projects in the Italian rural area, including a hotel in Maranza and a prototype of a treehouse in the forest of the Dolomites.

BIG revealed the design for a treetop hotel room wrapped in 350 bird houses created for the Treehotel in Lapland, Sweden. Designed in collaboration with ornithologist Ulf Ohman, the 34 square-metre Biosphere room seeks to enhance the surrounding biosphere by providing a habitat for local birds while allowing guests to be immersed in the surrounding forest. The project is the latest addition to the hotel's series of individually designed rooms created by some of Scandinavia's most renowned architects, such as Snøhetta, Rintala Eggerstsson, and Tham & Videgard.

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“It all started with the question: What if I’m going to build my own house?" It was this consideration that prompted Alexis Dornier to note that when he's providing architectural design service he's mostly catering, filtering and catalyzing input from other people that have budgets, preferences and tastes and it’s up to him to channel or organize that and let it "stream through" him. Using his craft to put it in order. "But what if you did not have that other hand [designer's help]? What would you do?”

Archdaily’s Hana Abdel, projects curator, sat down with Alexis Dornier to discuss his latest venture as co-founder of Stilt Studios, a company “focused on making Architectural design accessible to a greater audience of people. People who wouldn’t be able to afford an architect or don’t want to go through the trouble of working with an architect. So, what if we could create a product, or an architecture that almost works as a product.”

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You asked, an expert Arup engineer has answered! 

In the first of our video series with Arup, structural engineer Matt Clark addresses ArchDaily reader Hannah Worthington's inquiry, submitted via our facebook page: "How do you work out the structural capacity of a tree branch to build a tree house?"

Dying to get your question answered in the next "Ask Arup" video? Ask away in the comments below.