Tree houses can look so spectacular

City dwellers long for adventure and wild nature. Treehouses crown this urge. We show 5 spectacular tree house specimens from all over the world. Maybe you will build on wood …

Treehouses only make children's eyes shine? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that! When you look at the 50 copies that frolic between thick branches in the illustrated book “Tree Houses” (Taschen Verlag), even big hearts pound faster. Relax, celebrate, sleep, experience adventure - from a tree house you can see the world from a completely different perspective.

Tree houses - the essence of architecture

The longing for your own treehouse refuge is a prehistoric drive.

"The impulse to climb a tree for protection, or to look at the earth from above, is as old =" "as mankind itself. Even in early civilizations there were references to tree houses - in the course of history they actually originated everywhere where the vegetation stretches to the sky. In a sense, the tree house is even the epitome of architecture: anchored in the ground and yet floating, safe and with a wide view,”writes author Philip Jodidio in the illustrated book. From simple planks in the Indonesian jungle to tea houses in Japan to futuristic professional buildings where you can spend the night - "Tree Houses" shows how diverse tree houses bring us very close to nature. 5 fascinating examples:

Tree house in Osnabrück, Germany

Architect Andreas Wenning built this all-glass glazed high seat five meters above the root between an alder and an oak. Inside and outside, the building is made entirely of oak. The interior houses a large double bed, from where you can look into the tree tops during the day and into the stars at night. The highlight: under the actual tree house, an intermediate terrace dries a meter below, the oak tree grows right through.

Tree house between oak and alder in Osnabrück

Photo: Alaisdair Jardine

Tree house Vancouver Island, Canada

Not a giant flying eye, but the three “free spirit spheres” that can also be rented are always an eye catcher. The ball tree houses with a diameter of 3.2 meters are each tensioned with cables on three trees and can float anywhere from 1.5 to 30 meters above the ground. Architect Tom Chudleigh was not only inspired by shipbuilding for the material of the tree houses (cedar wood), but also for the cabin-style interior with portholes. They are also waterproof.

Round tree house on Vancouver Island

Photo: Tom Chudleigh

Tree houses in Kaikoura, New Zealand

The symbol of New Zealand, the funny kiwi bird, does not get lost in the tops of a manuka tree. After all, a kiwi can't fly. But for tree houses, the crowns of the New Zealand myrtle, as the Manuka is also called, are perfect. A total of five tree houses belong to the Hapuku Lodge on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island and hover at a height of 10 meters on stately steel girders. Inside, they offer impressive comfort and spectacular views of nature with all-round glazing.

Hapuku Lodge in New Zealand

Photo: Hapuku Lodge

Tree house in Harads, Sweden

The 4 x 4 x 4 meter mirrored cuboid of the "Mirrorcube Tree Hotel" in northern Sweden appears almost invisible. The mirrored facade merges the tree house and nature, the 360-degree view does the rest. The tree house offers space for a double bed, mini kitchen, bathroom, living area and roof terrace for two people.

The Mirrorcube Treehouse Hotel in Sweden

Photo: Åke E: son Lindman

Tree house in Yamanashi, Japan

A cup of tea at lofty heights? Possible in the Kiyoharu Shirakaba Museum. Sencha and Co. can be sipped particularly spectacularly when the cherry blossoms sprout all around. Since not only cherry trees bloom in Japan but also like the earth to shake, the tree tea house was impaled on a cypress trunk to resonate. A magical place through and through.

Tea tree house in the Kiyoharu Shirakaba Museum in Japan

Photo: Akihisa Masuda

The right tree for the tree house

Licked blood and now you want to build your own tree house? Then all you have to do is choose the right tree. Maple, oak and linden, spruce or hemlock are best suited for a high seat. The poplar and robinia wood is too brittle, so it is out of the question. Particularly important: The tree must not be sick or putrefected. Check the site very carefully: Do you see dead or bare branches somewhere? Then you'd better look for another tree. Are the branches broad enough to house a house and some residents? And how high do the children have to climb to reach a safe branch fork? Trees that are too young or too old do not provide sufficient support for the construction.

Unconventional living: even more ideas

Building knowledge Why Tchibo sells tiny houses

Glamping: the luxurious way of camping

Construction planning A converted construction trailer as a tiny house

Build a tree house yourself

Here you will find detailed DIY instructions to put your own tree house in the crown.

You can find even more pictures of the featured tree houses and other spectacular tree top strikers in “Tree Houses” by Philip Jodidio; published by Taschen Verlag; 352 pages; 49.99 euros. The book can be ordered here

Photo: Taschen Verlag Cologne