Lightning House

Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, PA •  2001 

A functional, semi-inhabitable treehouse made of materials found within walking distance to the forest, this structure was hung from the tree. Made with no penetrations to the tree, every connection/joint is a hinge, allowing flexibility for growth and movement of the tree. This project embodies an approach to architecture that both spatially and temporally links the processes of designing, making, using and maintaining a constructed environment. By emphasizing the social dimensions of these processes, sited in wilderness environments, the treenests comment on relationships between nature and culture. Like a barn-raising, the treenests become the by-product of an improvised architectonic festival which lives on in the imaginations of the participants; tactics and ideas for collaboration are discussed over collective meals and bonfires.

Commissioned by Morgan Puett and Mark Dion