Tree house
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Tree house (also spelled treehouse) refers to a hand-built wooden platform-based structure resembling a shed or house, that is built among the branches or around the trunk of one or more mature trees, and is some distance off the ground. They are invariably approached via a ladder, although this may not be fixed in place (i.e.: the ladder being let down to allow someone to climb up). Tree houses are best built in mature hardwood trees with a spreading crown of strong branches.
They are sometimes built as "forts" or "play houses" for children. Sometimes children will build their own ramshackle temporary treehouses on marginal or scrub urban land, which then serve an important role in the games of children's street culture. Professionally-built children's tree houses can also be found as part of commercial children's play parks.
In some parts of the tropics, ordinary houses for living are built in trees or elevated on stilts to the same level as the trees, to keep the living quarters above hazards at ground level. They can also be used for storing food out of reach of scavenging predators.
Treehouses are the only solution for building of eco-friendly facilities in some remote forest-areas. The wildlife, climate and illumination on ground-level in areas of dense close-canopy forest is not suitable for human habitation.
Although they have traditionally been of wood, experimentation with new technologies and innovative fabrics has led to the development of viable temporary living structures that are more like "tree tents" than tree houses. These have recently been used by scientists documenting the flora and fauna of the little-researched upper canopies of tropical forests.
See also
Further reading
- Eleanor Perenyi, 1981. Green Thoughts : A Writer in the Garden.
- Peter Nelson, David Larkin (Eds.), 2000. The Treehouse Book.
External links
- [True School Treehouses]
- [African Pygmies Treehouses]
- [Forever Young Treehouses]
- [Cedar Creek Tree House (Mt. Rainier, WA.)]
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