When done right, there's something uniquely appealing about a house in the woods, as evidenced by properties such as the Black Magic House and Espinar House. We can now add Kazakhstan-based Tree in the house, by local architect and designer Masov Aibek, to our growing list of dream woodland getaways – and perhaps it's the most unusual of the bunch.
Set to be located within the mountainous outskirts of Kazakhstan's largest city (and until 1997, its capital) Almaty, Tree in the house has been designed for two people. Essentially a simple cylindrical glass shape with four floors and a spiral staircase, the house will feature a tree running right through the center, and will shun privacy in favor of a stunning view.
The materials to be used in the construction of Tree in the house include glass and metal, with plasterboard inner dividing walls and wooden flooring. The basic structure will be prefabricated in a factory before being shipped to the woodland plot.
Construction is slated to begin in five months, and completed in 2014 at a cost US$361,000 (not including land). This may seem expensive, but the designer assures us that similar properties in the area regularly exceed $1 million. Indeed, Aibek further reports that he's already received orders to design and build three more houses.
We'll check in with Aibek for further details as the project matures and construction gets underway.
Source: A.Masow via DesignBoom
Overall, this seems like an arrogant idea, is completely impractical, and disregards the well being of the tree.
Chris: 1) Pine tree's don't lose all their leaves/pines annually, I'm not 100% sure on all the pine species in kaz but a few species iv been able to find are the scotts pine, aswell as the stone pine and siberian pine... the only one that listed how long the leaves last was the scotts pine. It says that the leaves survive for 2-4 years in warmer climates.. and up to 9 years in sub arctic climates.. the location of this building is in the mountainous region outside the capital, so i assume its pretty cold... so pine litter might not be very intense year to year.. Also most dead branches break off from the wind once they become weakened... there would be no wind inside the building.. obviously there would have to be manual trimming to keep everything tidy however.(most homes have maintenance anyways, and im assuming based on the price, whoever buys this house has money to spend on abit of maintenance)
2) For a tree that size the roots would spread out far beyond the building, however the biggest/thickest roots would indeed be under the building. However the roots don't just go lateral, they also go down into where the water level is, and if there isn't any water level close you could always set up an automated system to water it, you wouldn't want to water it to much however because you would want to limit growth as much as possible while keeping the tree healthy.
3) The siberian pine has a listed maximum lifetime of 800-850 years... and tree's living to well over a 100 years old is very common, the only reason there isn't more old, huge tree's is we cut them all down to build our "other" homes. The tree will get plenty of water, and im certain that the home won't be hermetically sealed, there would be plenty of airflow... but its worth pointing out that the tree doesnt need oxygen it needs co2, which we breathe, and it gives out oxygen as a by product, so really its a good symbiosis.
Silly, poorly thought out idea in my opinion.