Image via Complex Original
The tree houses from our childhood were bang-up jobs, uneven logs knocked together to make something that could pass for a house. We didn't care; these floating houses were prefect hideaways for our adventures. Forget everything you know about tree houses because this list of Tree Houses We Want to Live In updates the sky-high dwellings for adults. Bigger, more creative, and downright impressive, these treehouses make us want to give up living on the ground forever.
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Bialsky Tree House
Designer: Michael Ince
Location: Bridgehampton, N.Y.
Year Built: Unknown
We always loved the Hobbit houses in Lord of the Rings, and this tree house is as close as you can get to that fantasy world. This tree house has the essentials of a fun space, including a simple swing.
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Mirrorcube Tree Hotel
Designer: Tham & Videgård Arkitekter
Location: Harads, Sweden
Year Built: 2010
A 12-meter-long bridge leads up to the Mirrorcube, a tree house hotel that accommodates two people with a double bed, bathroom, lounge, and rooftop terrace. This hotel gives you the opportunity to immerse yourself in nature without losing the comfort of living in a home. If only dad built this kind of place in our backyard.
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Big Sur Nest
Designer: Jayson Fann
Location: Big Sur, Calif.
Year Built: 2011
The Big Sur Nests, or Spirit Nests, are the perfect spots for meditation or bird imitation, whichever suits your fancy. Nest builder Jayson Fann threw away any notion of what makes a traditional tree house and went back to the original—a bird's nest.
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The Pharrell Williams Resource Center
Designer: Chad Oppenheim
Location: Virginia Beach, Va.
Year Built: Not yet built
Pharrell Williams, jack of all trades, met Chad Oppenheim at Miami Basel in 2008 and immediately became a fan. The pair decided to create a community center in Pharrell's hometown in Virginia. According to Architizer, the structure will be a "30,000 square-feet facility designed to empower the youth of Virginia Beach to reach their maximum potential—to give them a safe and nurturing environment to uncover and tune their passions."
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4treehouse
Designer: Phyllis Richardson
Location: Lake Muskoka, Canada
Year Built: 2003
Designed to imitate a Chinese lantern, there is only a thin barrier between you and the woods at 4treehouse. The designer claims, "Anyone taking shelter in its floors will certainly feel the rustle and rush of breeze. It's enough to inspire nostalgia for a childlike appreciation of things."
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The UFO
Designer: Inredningsgruppen
Location: Harads, Sweden
Year Built: 2010
Owned by the same people who created the Mirrorcube Tree Hotel, the UFO is perfect for the sci-fi geek. This tree house makes us feel like we could jet off into space at any given moment.
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Porecatu Tree House
Designer: Ricardo Brunellie
Location: Porecatu, Brazil
Year Built: 2012
With the highest concentration of rain forests in the world, it makes sense that Brazil would also have the coolest tree houses hiding in its tropical landscape. The Porecatu Tree House shows you how to relax the way Brazilians do—with a hammock, a mini bar, and plenty of rocking chairs. Put away your iPhone, and break out the cachaça.
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World Solace Treehouse
Designer: Dan Mack
Location: Western New Jersey
Year Built: 2009
Dan Mack describes this tree house as "the kind of place I dreamed about as a kid." We have to agree. While other designers like to play with the juxtaposition between clean design and the rough texture of a forest, Mack decided to build a more traditional tree house.
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HP Tree House
Designer: MMP Architects
Location: Mt. Whitfield, Australia
Year Built: 2012
You want to enjoy nature, but you don't want to sacrifice your comfortable lifestyle. We get it. The HP Tree House provides exactly that: fully enveloped by the woods but still spacious and modern.
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Le Lit Perché
Designer: Alain Laurens
Location: Bonnieux, France
Year Built: 2005
The French countryside boasts some of the best natural landscapes that Europe has to offer. Alain Laurens took advantage of the majesty that is Southern France and designed Le Lit Perché, which translates to "the hilltop bed." We would not suggest this place for light sleepers.
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Too High Teahouse
Designer: Terunobu Fujimori
Location: Takasugi-an, Japan
Year Built: 2004
Fujimori, who is possibly the grand master of tree houses, pushes boundaries by placing houses at extreme heights. Most tree houses builders don't construct houses higher than they want to fall, but Fujimori thinks it's worth the tumble. Despite the risks, we can imagine that the view would be incomparable.
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The HemLoft
Designer: Joel Allen
Location: Whistler, Canada
Year Built: 2011
The HemLoft was created by Joel Allen, who left his life as a software developer to expand his carpentry skills. The result? A house that looks like it came straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. Since the tree house was built on crown land, Allen doesn't technically own it. He actually has a poll on his website asking people what to do with the property.
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Free Spirit Spheres
Designer: Tom Chudleigh
Location: Vancouver Island, Canada
Year Built: 1997
The Free Spirit Spheres make you feel as though you are floating in a comfortable bubble through Canada's wilderness, untouched by the burdens of city life. If you are trying to hide from something or just get away, this seems like the perfect place.
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Nescafé Treehouse
Designer: Takashi Kobayashi
Location: Kamishihoro, Japan
Year Built: Unknown
The Nescafé tree house stands alone in an empty field with a breathtaking view of Kamishihihoro's hills. With a spiral staircase and a decent amount of height, this tree house is like a dream.
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O2 Tree House
Designer: Dustin Feider
Location: Can be installed anywhere
Year Built: Unknown
Dustin Feider made a line of O2 Tree Houses so that anyone could set them up in their own backyard. We're pretty sure that the open-air tree houses wouldn't be the best to live in, but the potential of getting one ourselves makes it all the more tempting.
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Lifepod
Designer: Kyu Che
Location: Can be installed anywhere
Year Built: 1997
Lifepod seems like the kind of place that the Jetsons would stay if they decided to go camping. Like the O2 Tree House, the Lifepod can be placed anywhere. The futuristic white house would look pretty cool against a wooded background.
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Finca Bellavista
Designers: Erica and Matt Hogan
Location: Costa Rica
Year Built: 2008
This sustainable tree house community has its own facilities for eating, sleeping and what ever else one needs. Enjoy a morning coffee, and watch the monkeys climb vine to vine without feeling like you're interrupting their day. This sustainable abode is an environmentally friendly way to live among the trees.
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Minister's House
Designer: Horace Burgess
Location: Crossville, Tenn.
Year Built: 1993
Named the largest tree house in the world, this tree mansion is a dream for the climber in all of us. Despite its large size, the house is actually well hidden, the perfect venue for a giant camping party.
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Banyan Drive Tree House
Designers: Bridget Krajacic, Christopher Kempel, Rocky Rockefeller, and Brian Pera
Location: Los Angeles
Year Built: 2009
The design for this tree house is modern without exaggerating its aesthetic. The office space faces the beautiful California landscape, but we can't imagine that we'd get any work done with that kind of view.
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Wilkinson Residence
Designer: Robert Harvey Oshatz
Location: Portland, Ore.
Year Built: 2000
In the Wilkinson Residence, Oshatz has created an architectural marvel hidden deep in the woods of Oregon. The house is cozy, which can be a rarely feeling in contemporary homes. The structure's impressive curves and solid forms are enough to make you forget that you're high off the ground.
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