Call us old-fashioned, but we think that for a dwelling to be considered a real tree house, it must actually be connected to a tree. Still, what it lacks in trees, the Treewow O – A Tree House of Curved Round Roof more than makes up for with a stunning undulating roof.
The Treewow O – A Tree House of Curved Round Roof (or Treewow Villa O for short) is a vacation home located in a rural village in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, China. It’s raised off-the-ground and reaches a total height of 8 m (26 ft), which is around the same height as a nearby bamboo grove, according to architects Monoarchi.
To support the elaborate curved roof, which is based on three non-concentric circles and sports eye-catching hanging eaves, Monoarchi used 57 wooden trusses that vary in thickness. The roof is made from red cedar wood and the lower part of the dwelling features steel structural supports.
Inside, the first floor of the Treewow Villa O is also finished in red cedar and consists of a living room, plus a bedroom, and a bathroom with a bathtub. In addition, a spiral staircase leads up to a rooftop terrace area that provides views of the landscape, including a nearby 200 year old tree.
Monoarchi hired local craftsmen to handle the construction of Treewow Villa O, though chose not to use local bamboo as a construction material in order to make the build process easier, instead relying on wood that was shipped in.
“The crude hand construction of traditional dwellings is different from fine production under standardization and industrialization,” explains the firm. “The non-linear eave has extremely high error-tolerant rate, which can be considered as a respect of rural construction to natural laws. During the design and construction process, the architect remained close communications with local craftsmen to achieve a balance between the design form and local construction skills.”