Fairy tale castles in the air

Philip Jodidio, Tree Houses. Fairy Tale Castles in the Air, Taschen, Cologne 2012, (pp. 351; € 49,99)

Tree houses all over the world are imbued with strong and firmly-rooted ancestral values that ignore historical, geographical boundaries and aesthetic, formal choices. This is the underlying secret that, branching out from one tree to the next, links all the constructions illustrated in Philip Jodidio's book Tree Houses. Fairy Tale Castles in the Air. It is also the key to the global success of tree houses and the huge fascination they exercise on all of us.

The myth of Arcadia and the search for an ideal life lived in harmony with nature — of which the tree is the greatest symbol — allow the author to group 50 very different contemporary constructions across the globe and retrace the origin and history of this ancient type in his introductory essay, from primeval refuges to the suspended fabriques of the Medici gardens, the Robinson cabaret and amusement parks. In contrast to the chaotic world we find ourselves having to cope with on a daily basis, every tree house responds incontrovertibly to the spirit of the times and the need to restore contact with nature in resistance to everyday convention, routine and chaos. Refuge and hideaway, return to childhood, promise of adventure and expression of an alternative lifestyle: these are some of the values that crop up to varying degrees in all the models illustrated, regardless of their specific form or function, and that effectively impact each of us. The limited space provided by a house in a tree successfully condenses and conveys all this and, at the same time, opens up on the boundless space of freedom. Opposites are able to coexist in this twofold space: closed and open, escape and return, solid and fragile…

The 50 examples examined in the book are in random succession, not divided into category or groups. Each one comprises a short poetic and technical description and a number of pictures. Each tree house is first presented in a stylised drawing by Patrick Hruby, highlighting its special features. Set beside the description, the drawing fills the whole page before you come to the photographs. This means you are transported by your imagination before you turn the page to be immersed in the concrete construction. This highly effective expedient leaves you "suspended" throughout your journey of discovery into the world's tree houses.

With no geographical or stylistic constraints, you fly over the entire planisphere, roaming freely from constructions by a German cabinet-maker to those of an American designer, which differ greatly in their distinctive formal choices: the former tending towards organic and forward-looking forms, and the latter linked to the American culture and traditional materials. From Wenning's shells on steel pilotis that incorporate trees and spread out from them in a system of terraces, to the structures built by Pete Nelson and his company, closed and clinging to the tree trunks in symbiosis with the tree and forming an extension of it.

Completely different proposals emerge from Japanese culture. The tea houses by the architect and university professor Fujimori and the constructions by Kobayashi, a former clothing buyer, are structures with sometimes spectacular and ironical forms, intended as places for contemplation, to gratify the soul and for inner well being. Designers, cabinet makers, university professors and enthusiasts, a whole host of different backgrounds are combined with the specific skills necessarily required to build a house in a tree, those of the joiner, structural engineer, agronomist…

Some examples are clearly expressions of a personal style, a specific culture or even a school, but the reference categories are not always clear as you continue your journey. Many of the single constructions combine size and functions in hugely different ways, creating spaces that range from the hotel room to the multi-storey home, and from the tiny tea room to the conference centre. Similarly, they pass from recycled and eco-sustainable materials to cutting-edge technology, and from Spartan and rustic spaces that are completely open and eco-friendly to the sophisticated and super-comfortable, enclosed between panels of innovative materials and from public to private spaces, from spheres to cubes, from works of art to the strictly functional…

These tree houses are multipurpose spaces, but they are also machines a rêver because, when suspended above ground, it is your own imagination that moulds the space and, as Jodidio explains, dreams do indeed become reality when you are at the top of a tree.

Apart from the specific features of each project, all these constructions speak the same language, convey the same messages and provide direct contact with nature. Not surprisingly, there is a special focus on the interior/exterior relationship, the way they open up onto the landscape and the windows that frame the views, as well as the steps and terraces that set the distances from the ground.

Jodidio's book reveals that tree houses can be the perfect response to the needs and expectations of the contemporary world, and perhaps this is why we close the book after the 50th example. At the end of our journey, we feel vigorously projected towards the future, an undecided, fascinating future that is constantly evolving. Luisa Limido