Hanging treehouse

This came to me as I woke up this morning. A tree house is an intriguing idea, I’ve been thinking about how to expand the Artist house’s guest capacity without permits, maybe this is also research for some utopian movie.

The main principle is low or no impact to the tree. Weight is unavoidable of course, we’re asking the tree to take more than it’s own weight. Can we integrate the additional weight into the design of the tree?

I admit to ignorance here, but let’s at least inventory our basic understanding. The bark is the living, growing skin of the tree. All the vital tubes run through the bark. One would imagine that the bark is designed to protect the tree from disease, as the outer skin that interfaces to the world. The bark probably also affords synergistic relationships with beneficial species. There’s probably all sorts of interesting things going on with bark that are not obvious. Until our house can completely integrate with bark function, we want to just leave the bark alone.

Attaching boards to a tree with nails means both perforating the tree’s skin and having the board press against the bark, preventing the bark from drying after rains and creating a shelf for dirt to accumulate. If we do something which either injures the bark or changes the conditions which bark is designed for, there’s likely going to be unforeseen bad consequences.

The wood under the bark is the weight bearing structure. Like the bones of our body, tree branches twist and curve, probably to form the strongest and most flexible design, based on both optimized DNA and environmental influences. Our house should follow the lead of the branches, especially since we want our house to extend horizontally away from the central trunk. If our house integrates with the tree, the tree will continue to be healthy and adapt to the extra weight, growing stronger to support it.

Patrick and I have been thinking about hanging tree houses, using rope instead of nails to hold onto the tree. This might be something like a hammock, able to twist and swing in the wind with the tree. The hammock house would be a non static structure – with it’s own inherent benefits for those who dwell within. Industrial humans are used to living in static structures. What I assembled this morning is a hybrid – a hanging static structure that wouldn’t bang into the tree or abrade the bark, causing damage.

My idea is for a bearing. Picture an ideal tree, long straight trunk with a canopy of branches. Just below the canopy is a bearing, which rings the trunk and hangs from the branches with ropes. It is the structural spine of the house. This bearing can spin with the twisting of the branches, but it doesn’t come in contact with the bark. The entire house extends out from the ring bearing or bearings, as there could be a second bearing below the first, perhaps one for each floor of the house. Using the materials shorthand of the modern age, the bearing could be a hinged steel cylinder, strong enough to support horizontal structure sticking out from it. The inner surface of the bearing would be held out from the bark by a concentric spikes drilled into the trunk.

The bearing spikes perforate the bark but they don’t actually bear weight, they just keep the bearing off the bark and allow drainage, sunlight etc.  Granted, that’s still an impact. The other impact is how the ropes attach to the branches. A sling of wide webbing loops over the crotches of the branch, and ropes are then connected to these via hardware. The slings press against the bark, but their width distributes the load so that the bark isn’t damaged, hopefully. The hardware below the sling keep the sling stationary, so it doesn’t abrade the bark when the branches sway. Ok, that’s the entire vision so far.

There’s plenty of questions and problems here, metal for one. Where’s all this metal coming from in our utopian sustainable world? Not that there wouldn’t be some metal… but ring bearings big enough to go around a tree? How about as the trunk grows thicker, the bearings would need to also expand. Is there another natural material that could be adjusted as the tree grew? I got to thinking about a vegetable based curing resin – like epoxy, is there such a thing? Epoxy allows all sorts of shapes to be cast or formed, but it’s petro based. Is it possible to brew it from nature, a super shellac? Then wood fiber or hair could replace the glass. Of course there’s genetic modification, but that’s already so stupidly deployed that it’s likely to be a despised tech for generations. Genetic modification that considers all implications of the glowing fish/tomato? Not in this culture. That’s a tech that should be just banned commercially until we evolve beyond greed. As if.

Anyway, the hanging, spinning tree house. A tree boat. The bearing idea allows for a rigid structure to mesh with a flexible living support. Getting intimate with trees might help industrial age humans evolve.  It’s a burden on the tree sure, but we are asking the tree for help, and with our primitive technology and understanding, it’s a start. Trees are frickin’ smart!

Another benefit of the hammock house is that it can be moved, components could be packed in to the forest and assembled. Big steel bearings don’t jive with that vision.