CONCEPTUAL URBAN ‘TREESCRAPER’ COMMUNITIES
01 Jul 2015
Affordable and sustainable eco-housing, in the form of ‘treescrapers’, offers a new concept for a future of urban green living. A 21st century home that merges architecture and nature into one.
OAS1S, an architectural foundation committed to global urban improvement, proffers a concept for a community of dwellings inspired by trees that act as modern skyscrapers known as ‘treescrapers’. Constructed from recycled wood and operating off-grid with the use of sustainable technology, these whimsical homes would make walking along your street feel more like a stroll through a forest.
The inspiration for the concept derives from OAS1S head Raimond de Hullu. Hullu imagines a pedestrian-friendly community, with no cars in sight. Residents would reach their homes by parking on the fringes of the development and taking a stroll through the ‘forest’. An OAS1S community would feature a maximum of 100 houses per hectare (2.47 acres), and include single and multi-family housing, hotel and office space, in addition to leisure and commercial units covered with green roofs.
A typical treescraper would measure 6 x 6 x 12 m and comprise a total floor space of 160 sqm split over four floors. The interior would include a dining room, deck, hall and storage area, two bathrooms, a lounge, utility room, and three bedrooms, in addition to a fenced balcony and glass-bottomed hall on the top floor.
Each treescraper would be covered in greenery and, in order to operate off-grid, would sport sustainable technology such as solar hot water and electricity panels, a grey-water recycling system, triple-glazed windows, and a composting toilet. Electricity derived from the solar panels would be stored in a battery array, and rainwater would be collected for domestic use.
The idea is still very much on the drawing board at the moment, but Hullu imagines his design could be implemented as housing or as an eco-resort. He further states that if he gets the investment required to build it, he would also set up a Community Land Trust to ensure affordable housing.