UP-IN-THE-AIR-The-Redwoods-Treehouse

While it may engender warm feelings of childhood wonderment, the notion of treehouses also addresses very grown-up concerns: sustainability, ecology, being in harmony with nature, self-sufficiency, and breaking free from the daily, urban grind of city life. For a selection of inspiring treehouses that function as high-perched homes, we recommend picking up a copy of Philip Jodidio’s Tree Houses: Fairy Tale Castles in the Air. But not everyone has the opportunity, technical knowledge, or means to buy or build their own treehouse, hence why we’ve compiled a short-list of such structures that the public can actually visit, from an alien-like restaurant to hovering hotels and even a floating church.

Finca Bellavista – a fully-functional, eco-friendly treehouse community linked by suspension bridges in the coastal, mountainous South Pacific region of Costa Rica

http://www.fincabellavista.com/show-tell/gallery/treehouse-gallery/

The Redwoods Treehouse – a pod-shaped restaurant built 33-feet-high on a redwood tree near Warkworth, New Zealand

http://www.contemporist.com/2008/12/22/the-yellow-treehouse-restaurant-is-finished/

http://www.yellowtreehouse.co.nz/

Treehotel – a unique concept hotel with rooms suspended in trees 13 to 20 feet above the ground, with views of the Lule River in Sweden

http://www.citylifer.co.za/2012/10/26/innovation-treehotel-in-sweden/

http://treehotel.se 

Free Spirit Spheres – handmade accommodations created from local wood for relaxation, wildlife watching, and photography in Vancouver Island, Canada

http://realestate.msn.com/11-amazing-treehouses#4

http://www.freespiritspheres.com/

Minister’s Treehouse – the world’s largest treehouse, a 10-story church envisioned by Horace Burgess and built from reclaimed wood in Crossville, Tennessee

http://inhabitat.com/worlds-tallest-treehouse-came-in-a-vision/