The joy of tree houses

I've just watched Grand Designs Revisited (the one with the reconfigured 70s bungalow on the Isle of Wight, with a tree-surrounded bedroom tower...). Did you see it? What a stunning, but also warm, home that lovely couple created. 

And the houses in this new Taschen book, Tree Houses. Fairy Tale Castles in the Air, by Philip Jodidio, £44.99, have somewhat of a similar appeal. The book takes you on a tour of 50 of the world's best, maddest and most ambitious tree houses – from idealogical retreats to luxury remote hotels and Japanese teahouses. What's not to enjoy? 

This beautiful wood-clad interior is inside 'Pilotis in a Forest', a treehouse designed by Japanese architects, Go Hasegawa (top images, above, and below). You can read more about it in the Architectural Review.

Terunobu Fujimori’s Teahouse Tetsu  Photo © Akihisa Masuda

You can also find out more about it at Design Boom.

Now for something Nordic...

The interior (above, top) and exterior (above) of Sweden's Blue Cone hotel, where you access the place by bridge from the nearby mountain. Yes please.

The house below has a much quirkier context...

Horace Burgess spent 15 years constructing his crazy (and very, very tall) treehouse from scrap materials in Tennessee, after – yep – he was commissioned to do so by god. Well there you go. Read more about the house in, ahem, the Daily Mail.

Another tree house hotel in Sweden. This one is called The UFO for good reason. This, and the Blue Cone (see second set of images) are near Sweden's Lule river, and about 100 kilometers from Luleå airport. 

Buy the book at the Taschen website.