I want to point out the different patterns in this "treehouse" compared to the living bridges image. The regular and symmetrical pattern in the round building simulate the standard architecture of today. That of the living bridges of meghalaya is almost completely random if not chaotic.
I propose that living tree structures should take this into account and work with the natural growth pattern of the trees that are used, rather than trying to mold them into the square forms of conventional architecture. A pine forest arbortecture would look much different than that of a live oak forest arbortecture .
The regimented design is bound to grow wilder by the year and can only remain uniform through heavy pruning. Like a formal hedge. Pretty but extravagant.
A truly sustainable green architecture would provide shelter with the least amount of input. Aside from bending small branches and tying them together, how much less input could one use to achieve some benefit?
The webs of tent caterpillars come to mind. One might picture human scale tent structures attached to trees in a similar fashion. Even the use of multiple semi porous layers is intriguing. I picture shell within shell each layer more protected from the elements than the next.
It's even possible to train the efforts of silk worms to follow a predetermined pattern...
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| The silk pavilion |
SILK PAVILION from Mediated Matter Group on Vimeo.
While the experiment to train silkworms to make tents is at least as ambitious as that of training trees in the shape of houses, that's no reason not to do both, together, and at the same time. Unfortunately, the caterpillars must eat the tree to make silk, so there's a hurdle to overcome.
This 3d printed house design was displayed in London...
This video show stages of structural design by algorithm.
Softkill Algorithm from Sophia Tang on Vimeo.
