Ultimate Tree Houses

Design Team: HNTB; Brad Bell Studios

Beyond the typical four walls, floor and ceiling, a tree house is the adventure, the experience, a child’s escape from an adult’s structured world. The concept of “tree house” often evokes thoughts, memories, history, and imagery of childhood and parenthood: activities and learning, the act of construction and personalization, nature and our relationship to it. But, traditional form and materials often confine the limitless imagination. The leaves of the tree provided the basic form for our design. Through the use of parametric 3-D modeling software, the basic “leaf” surface was generated, and transformed into the “wall panels” that create the tree house. Precision in fabricating the components, as well as being able to accurately quantify the construction materials, makes these very organic, expressive forms, feasible to assemble and install. To represent the personalization of the tree house, area school children crafted their own “leaves” to be hung inside the house. The leaves draw the eye upward and engage you with wind, sound and sky.

Design Team: Sebo Shim & R. Kelly Giddens, The BECK Group

The design allows the patron to directly participate in the actions of a butterfly or similar insect as they become the “Pollinator” and move within the three tulip blooms. This concept creates both a visual and educational experience. The tulips are connected by a wheelchair accessible ramp and elevated pathways, as well as steps to provide movement between the blooms, simulating pollination. Bolted, plywood ribs stand 11 feet tall and represent “nectar guides” radiating from the tulip center which will draw “Pollinators” to the flowers. The plywood ribs are in-filled with painted wood slats just as visual cues such as color in flowers attract certain “Pollinators”. The slats are also angled specifically to create and control the visitors’ view from within the tulips.
Dallas Arboretum