Arch Daily

http://www.archdaily.com/301547

Here’s a whole new definition of the phrase “Tree House.”

Visiondivision‘s concession stand for 100 Acres, an Art & Nature Park in Indiana, is made entirely from one 100-ft yellow poplar tree. Not only does the trunk form the horizontal beam of the structure, but literally nothing of the tree was left to waste: bark became shingles; extracted pieces of wood became structural support, chairs and tables, swings; even the bark’s syrup was extracted to be sold in the kiosk itself.

The architects who refined this tree into a building were inspired by an ethos of “gentleness” with nature. As they share in their architects’ brief: “Our project is about trying to harvest something as gently as possible so that the source of what we harvest is displayed in a pure, pedagogic and respectful way—respectful to both the source itself and to everyone visiting the building.”…