Can we build houses from living trees?
It\u2019s the stuff of fairy tales \u2013 a beautiful cottage, with windows, chimney and floorboards \u2026 and supported by a living growing tree. CrowdScience listener Jack wants to know why living houses aren\u2019t a common sight when they could contribute to leafier cities with cleaner air. The UK has an impressive collection of treehouses, but they remain in the realm of novelty, for good reasons. Architects are used to materials like concrete and steel changing over time, but a house built around a living tree needs another level of flexibility in its design. That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible and CrowdScience hears about a project in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, where architect Ahadu Abaineh made a three-storey, supported by 4 living Eucalyptus trees as a natural foundation.
Host Marnie Chesterton meets some of the global treehouse building fraternity, including builder of over 200 structures, Takashi Kobayashi, who adapts his houses to the Japanese weather. In Oregon, USA, Michael Garnier has built an entire village of treehouses for his \u201cTreesort\u201d. He\u2019s developed better ways of building , including the Tree Attachment Bolt, which holds the weight of the house while minimising damage to the tree.
Professor Mitchell Joachim from Terreform One explains the wild potential of living architecture, a movement which looks at organic ways of building. He\u2019s currently building a prototype living house, by shaping willow saplings onto a scaffold that will become a home, built of live trees.
Photo Credit: Ahadu Abaineh