Slashdot Mirror
Back to the Trees
circletimessquare writes "This story should excite the nerd in anyone. Build a luxury treehouse! The New York Times reports on an entire subculture devoted to an idea which sounds funny at first... but really, why not? Much serious discussion in the article about the technical considerations involved in treehouse construction. Also mention of 'treesorts' at the bottom of the article (one being called 'Lothlorien Woods Hide-a-way' lol). I hunted down some links to two of the big players mentioned in the article, TreeHouse Workshop Inc. and the World Treehouse Conference. No mention as to whether or not they support Banyan VINES (sorry, I couldn't resist)."
Uggggh ....
...
/i:protman.ini
/nc
..... it's been many years, but that stuff still haunts me :)
I really didn't need that flashback
I see horrible memories of BeyondSnail and IM III......
Yikes.
device=c:\banyan\protman.dos
@echo off
c:\banyan\e2131
ban
bind
yikes
I hope you didn't catch that poor tree on fire too.
Banaaaana!
I especially like the integration of Solar Power. Plumbing may be a bit of a challenge. But armed with an effective WIFI-solution, one could stay up there for hours, days even, with food.
'ta
I mean, you're basically building on something that rots. And is high up. This doesn't seem like something I would do, be it just for a cottage or something fun, or be it a house or hotel. Plus, trees get knocked over quite often; hurricanes, theunderstorms, gales, snow, etc.
Also, it seems one of these would be a massive lightning rod, if you were to wire it.
As cool as it sounds, it just doesn't seem like such a great idea. Kind of like using lighter fluid to shoot tennis balls out of coke cans. Not that I've ever done that...
No mention as to whether or not they support Banyan VINES (sorry, I couldn't resist).
Apology DECLINED.
Hellooooo Lightning Storms!
Seriously, what kind of home-owner's insurance do you have to pay living up in a big tree? Rotting? Fires? Freak elephant attacks?
Reminds me of G. K. Chesterton's short story "The Singular Speculation of the House-Agent" from "The Club of Queer Trades". A character (Lieutenant Drummond Keith) is involved in a scuffle and disappears. He has left his address as "The Elms, Buxton Common, near Purley, Surrey", but when some aquaintances go to look, there is no house of that name. The hero of the series, Basil Grant, then goes along and finds him in a tree-house in an Elm tree on Buxton Common. He then has the great line:
"The second [thing] is to remember that very plain literal fact always seems fantastic. If Keith had taken a little brick box of a house in Clapham with nothing but railings in front of it and had written 'The Elms' over it, you wouldn't have thought there was anything fantastic about that. Simply because it was a great blaring, swaggering lie you would have believed it.'
Project Gutenburg has the book
I had a lean-to. I accidently torched it one day though.
Oh, and I used to keep a tent setup in my backyard in case I stumbled home drunk at 3 am and I didn't want my parents to catch me. Does that count?
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Bah. Even the trees were a bad move; we should never have left the oceans. ;)
Now, all I need is sharks with fricking laser beams attached to their heads, and my plan for world domination will be complete!
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
I'm sorry, but that is the worst spelling ever. I mean, yeah, it's slashdot, half of us are engineers that have problems with velcro, but still.
Concreet? Mabey? Graduadually?!?!
Please tell me you have some kind of dyslexic type disorder - I know high school drop-outs with better spelling skills than what you are exhibiting.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
One word: trebuchet.
Robots are everywhere, and they eat old people's medicine for fuel.
Ok, if you are actually going to spring for indoor plumbing (read: A place to poop), how are you going to get it there? What if the tree tips over and fecal matter starts shooting everywhere? *shudder* Trees should be left to monkeys and little kids. They don't use the bathroom anyways.
I would prefer a hobbit hole. Nice and cozy, fireplaces, but plenty of natural light. Maybe staffed by underpants gnomes.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Some friends and i built a crazy treehouse back when we were in high school...
:)
-It had twin skylights (made from a storm door),
-The walls were made from the giant political sign they would put up in vacant lots around town. (basically just particle board),
-we had two full rooms AND
-a small porch where we could sit and look over the "valley" (there was a stream nearby, just down the hill).
-A full size door connected the two rooms, and the front room had a window.
-we also had a rope swing off the porch which was WAY cool.
it was roughly 6 feet off the ground (the tree we built it on was one of those three-trunked varieties, kinda strange.)
Needless to say, some punk kids found it like 6 months later and trashed it... of course our craftsmanship was so good, all they really did was smash out the windows!
oh well, good times.
~Matt
When I was visiting some of my in-law's relatives in China in 1997, one apartment had a section that reminded me heavily of a tree-house. It was clearly "hacked" together in bits over time with winding hall-ways. I don't know about it's safety, but it was pretty cool to walk around in. If you want to make some changes you just get some boards, nails, and a hammer. No need to call in contractors and get permits, etc. I have never seen anything like it before. I suppose you could call it a "multi-level shanty town".
Table-ized A.I.
Plumbing is no problem. Just glance down before unloading. Make sure there's no cops or unfriendly neighbors around.
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive
"Darling, this is marvelous! You're so wonderful.......ants, ants, ANTS! Damn you you f8cking geek!"
Table-ized A.I.
As for weather, it sounds like they only build these in areas with mild weather. Although, I will grant you, even in San Francisco we will occasionally get a wind storm that will uproot a bunch of trees. Maybe the weight of the house makes the tree harder to uproot? I would think it would do the opposite by raising the center of gravity, but I'm not sure.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
They use extra strength bolts, and use them as sparingly as possible, spaced at least a foot apart. They also claim that the trees will adapt to the house, growing to support it rather than putting pressure on it. I'm not 100% sure if I believe that last bit, and clearly this is not what you want to build if you want a house you can pass on to your grandkids. Still, I think it's obvious that they know a hell of a lot more about building treehouses than you or I do.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Well what they should have done was buy a ziggurat. The ramp forms an integral part of the structure, and looks classy as well. Plus, ziggurats last an amazingly long time! Some are still standing today, thousands of years after their construction. Add vinyl siding, and who knows how long it might stay up.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
So, I grew up in an underground house, and it's actually a mixed blessing. On the minus side, you have to mow your roof, it can be freakin difficult to move furniture into/outof the house (unless you have an access garage or elevator), and people generally think you're nuts. On the plus side, underground houses tend to be fire/earthquake/tornado/blizzard proof, and the utility bills are rather low, because of solar and geothermal energy, and you also get to live in a hobbit-hole of sorts. The biggest problem, however, is that there is no market for underground houses, because Muggles/Sleepers/Luddites don't understand the concept... the best real-estate appraisal we can get is about $100K, because we can't get the house un-registered as a "basement house"... never mind the fact that it's got marble, custom stone work throughout, can withstand most any natural/unnatural disaster, etc. We've sunk way more money into the house than we're ever going to get out of it.
If you ever find/buy a dormant volcano, contact me and/or my brother, and we'll build you the undergound volcano fortress. We got the architectural blueprints already...
Anyhow, in an attempt to make sure that this post isn't ranked as a troll or flame-bait, I'll point out the story of the wolf and the three pigs who made their houses out of straw, wood, and brick. Better to make your house out of brick/stone than out of a treehouse, it seems to me...
I had an idea a while ago - with the advances we've been making in DNA, is there any way that we could get "treehouses" to grow naturally in a few years? Make sure the roots are good and deep on a good foundation to prevent it from falling over, then do "spot-DNA-splicing", where you'd insert the appropriate DNA instructions into the appropriate places over the course of years to make the tree grown into the appropriate shape. Could you make branches grow into a perfect staircase by tricking the tree into thinking that they're actually spaced according to how the tree would normally space its branches? Could you get the tree to make them flat?
A lot of questions, and a lot of unknowns, but - like the space elevator - I think we may find it within our reach in our lifetimes.
Last post!
Last fall I visited a friend on Maui and we stayed in the "Treetops" treehouse at Tree Houses of Hana. It was fun, but we were a little unprepared, as at least in this case, it was basically camping with a roof, a bed and a hot shower. Not much in the way of walls, but a roof ;-) I enjoyed it, but it's not for everyone. They do have one that is much less rustic as well though.
There's a book I read years ago, Copernick's Rebellion (Leo Frankowski), where a mad-scientist-type produced genetically engineered giant trees that would grow into nice houses, with rooms inside the trunk and enzyme-filled composting toilets and so on.
Seemed like a good idea to me at the time. The only problem with the trees in the book was that sometimes toilets would sprout in the middle of beds and digest people in their sleep.
put this seed on the ground, and water it. It may take a while.
To guard against falling trees, rotting, storms.. etc.. use lots of padding. Develop the entire house with padding, and then when it falls, you'll just have a minor brain trauma from bouncing around inside.
-------
"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
Australia's Coober Pedy (in South Australia)
has a large number of underground homes.
Even closer to the exclusive Adelaide Hills
we found some underground houses.
The obvious advantages are:
- low heating costs &
- low cooling costs
In short, a very energy-efficient home form
Coupled with a solar hot water system,
a fuel cell or wind-power system & a
quiet air circulation system (out with CO2
& radon gas; in with oxygen-rich air,
possibly full of nice local fragrances),
this type of house really rocks, especially
if it's built into a hillside, so you have
a terrific view out your front viewport...
I had such good memories of the treehouse in the Disney film version of Swiss Family Robinson that I recently watched it on DVD for the first time as an adult and it still makes me want to live in one. And
this could be a cool way to spend your birthday.
My name is Carlos Montoya. You share files of my music. Prepare to die.
I can't imagine why you'd want to build a treehouse without a clear roof, but I've never heard of anyone doing it. Perhaps it's cost prohibitive...
Would be awesome during thunderstorms....especially if you happen to have a significant other in there with you.
Kind thoughts do not change the world
I've always thought of tree houses as an insult to injury. First, you're wounding the tree, that's ok. But then you're attaching another dead tree to it. It's almost like beating someone with their own arm. The trees in the forest must riducule thier members with dead trees nailed to them. (its funny...laugh)
Cthulhu Saves.
Gentlemen (and Ladies),
m e. html
I'm surprized at you. I would think that comments would be slightly more positive on this topic.
As to the issues raised I can directly address some of them.
First - I have actually stayed in one of the treehouses in question. Quite a pleasant experience actually.
Second - I am disabled and partnered with a service dog (Ted).
http://www.treehouses.com/treehouse/treesort/ho
The treehouse was the peacock lodge. So named for the incredibly detailed carved wooden door. It was quite posh, having electricity, running water and a dorm sized refrigerator. We stayed in late October/early November(post season actually) Overnight temps ran to the mid teens(F). Ted & I were quite cozy.
As to the engineering, these folks are for the most part professionals and their engineering is top drawer and very well documented. Michael has had numerous run ins with the local planning commission and has prevailed primarirly because his structures are over engineered. If you closely examine the links in this story you'll find that Micheal freely uses Outriggers (Poles supporting the outer edges of the structure).
As to the handicapped issue - Michael's resort is not in any way handicapped accessible (although someone with a limited mobility disabilty such as myself can manage quite well) Due to a restrictive county goverment Michael is not allowed to rent lodging in the treehouses to the general public at large, only to friends and family. (Michael - while a bit gruff, is really quite easy to make friends with). Clearly putting the ADA burden squarely on the shoulders of the local goverment. Also these structures are more like private residences than a multi unit structure such as a hotel and as such would be exempt from ADA (as I understand it) in much the same way you and I are not required to have handicapped accessible ramps in installed in our homes.
As to the general question about the tree(s) themselves - Tree selection is a critical part of the pre-build engineering. Some trees are simply not suitable. Those that are are strongly rooted and in generally grow up and out not around, particuliarily at the site selected for structure supports. Also a technique developed by these folks allows for an ingeneous free floating support. These folks LOVE trees. Their second order of business is to protect and care for the trees themselves. The first order of business is safety of their structures. Something rather reassuring when you realize that some of their structures are built as high as one hundred and twenty-five feet off the ground.
As the general question of accessibility - several treehouses have been built with some kind of an elevator. Nor is it strictly a requirement that such an arrangement be neccessary. Take a close look at Disney's Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. Access can be arranged via a ramp from a nearby ridge for example.
Now as to the question of a Network connection. I have personal knowledge of at least two people who are using WiFi in their treehouses. One has wired their treehouse for electricity and the other uses a battery powered laptop.