Standing tall among the treetops in a forested area of Portland, Oregon, the Wilkinson Residence feels like a refined, playful treehouse for adults (a marvel that we at Architizer know well). To mitigate the site’s steep slope, Robert Harvey Oshatz perched the home’s living areas on top of a pedestal-like wood shingle foundation that gives the residences the illusion of living in the surrounding canopy. When viewing the forest through the large perimeter windows, it looks as though you have left any trace of city-life behind. Click through for more!

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As we reported back in January, Animal Planet will soon debut a new home show about treehouses and the people who love them. The mastermind and star of Treehouse Masters (formerly titled Treehouse Men) is Pete Nelson, a self-described tree whisperer who builds full-fledged homes in the treetops, complete with electricity and running water.

Those little bungalows usually set arboreophiles back between $90,000 and $150,000, and the dwellings on Treehouse Masters look to be much fancier. So tune in Friday, May 31, at 10 p.m.—oh, we know you will!—and prepare to be sucked in by the demands of Nelson’s clients, whose treetop mini-manses must accommodate every last flat-screen TV, because what is this, the jungle? Read more!

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Ah, the cabin in the woods— a horror movie favorite! Cabins get a bad rep; they’re usually depicted as dusty, creaky, soily, mossy, not to mention preternaturally susceptible to all kinds of hauntings, murder, and mutilation.

This cherry-red cabin is none of these things, and a whole lot more. Designed by Stockholm-based architects SandellSandberg, the cabin is one in a series of five special edition treehouses at Treehotel, the quirky and surreal camp-in-the-woods getaway that’s tucked away in the forests of Swedish Lapland. If the house’s bright outer shell is loud, the interiors are restorative. The walls and pine floors are finished in a soothing palette of whites, grays, and light woods.

Visit our media partner Remodelista to read more about this project!

Photos: Peter Lundstrom

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All images: Antony Gibbon

Treehouses are one of the key tenets of the internet (or at least, the archi-web). You could basically collapse “architecture” online into a handful of, ahem, “typologies” like pool houses, pods, cabins, and, yes, treehouses. Contrary to the laws of nature and web culture, a good treehouse never gets old. And how could they? They’re whimsical, wistful, and come in perfectly packaged “sight bites” ready for consumption.

These conceptual tree “houses” by designer Antony Gibbon meet all of these criteria, plus they happen to look like something out of Lord of the Rings (think Lothlórien). Definitely not a bad thing! Click through for more images.

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The Issaquah, Washington, bed-and-breakfast Treehouse Point. Left photo: courtesy of Treehouse Point; right: courtesy of This is something I saw once.

If you’re going to build a tiny house, why not double up on design trends and put it in a tree? That’s the approach that en-tree-preneur (yup) Pete Nelson prefers. Rather than clear land for a small house or guest quarters, the treehouse builder helps his clients, and the DIY folk who attend his Treehouse Workshop, conduct their lives a little higher off the ground. Commissioning one of Nelson’s roughly 200-square-foot arboreal retreats can set you back between $90,000 and $150,000 (before utilities factor in), but soon you’ll be able to live out that particular real-estate fantasy the way most of us do, vicariously through the television. This spring, Animal Planet will kick off a new series about Nelson called Treehouse Men.

For the past 25 years, Nelson has been building treehouses all over the world, from the redwoods in Northern California to the foliage of Japan. And though those 200-square-footers have the widest application, Nelson has sent more ambitious designs skyward, such as a 1,000-square-foot vacation home and Treehouse Point, an entire bed-and-breakfast outside Seattle. At the B&B, you can have a treehouse sleepover, get married, or even get a hot-stone massage from someone named Inga. It’s too late for this season, but would a Treehouse Weddings spinoff be too much to ask?

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If products looked anything like the natural resources they come from, we’d be going around in sheep-shaped sweaters and turning on lamps that look like veins of coal. The Swedish architects Anders Berensson and Ulf Mejergren of Visiondivision level out this relationship between raw materials and the designed environment with their design for Chop Stick, a whole-tree snack shack at the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. Read more!

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German cooperative Baumraum is the king of treehouses. From nostalgic little nooks to luxe resorts, the firm is known for creating some of the most beautiful, sustainable, and innovative abodes among the trees. When paper producer Sappi and communications agency Proximity BBDO wanted to create an office that reflected their dedication to the environment, they turned to Baumraum, which designed for them an eco-friendly building lifted high off the ground. Located in a forest in Hechtel-Eksel, Belgium, this is one super-inspiring workplace. See more images!

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Photo by Daici Ano

When thinking about Japan and its burgeoning cities, it can be easy to forget that the majority of the nation is still covered in trees and mountains. While still respecting the surrounding rural areas, Japanese firm Nendo has managed to bring a touch of urban living to the forests of Komoro City in the form of the Bird-Apartment. Looking as if it was ripped straight from the overcrowded dwellings of the city, the Bird-Apartment serves as a small animal reserve capable of housing 78 birds and one average-sized human guest. Read more!

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Images courtesy of Michael Smallcombe

Commissioned by the Dartmoor Arts Project for the second year in a row, London-based Jerry Tate Architects has completed a temporary treehouse inspired by a bird’s nest for local farm owners in Devon. Working in collaboration with Dartmoor students and timber specialist Henry Russell, the treehouse was designed as a safe play-space as part of the summer school’s “Spatial Structures“ course. Read more.

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Famed author J.K. Rowling is moving ahead with plans to build two treehouses on her property. Many fans of Harry Potter will be familiar with the style of architecture on display, previously found only in Hogsmeade and Ron Weasley’s house, The Burrow. The treehouses will tower over Rowling’s Scotland estate, linked by a series of decks and swaying bridges.

Conceived as a playscape for the author’s two younger children, the structures will sport many elements borrowed from any traditional wizarding architecture pamphlet, such as precariously perched turrets, entry tunnels, owl rookeries, and shingled siding. The treehouses, designed by premiere treehouse design firm Blue Forest, might cost as much as £250,000 ($390,000), not that cost is of any concern for the billionaire novelist. Because the structures will soar roughly forty feet in the air, Rowling had to seek approval from local planning authorities, which was granted. Rowling is also rumored to be building a summer home on her property in the style of Hagrid’s hut. The world of Harry Potter just got a little more real.

Images via Inhabitat

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