Exterior, Treehouse Building Type, Flat RoofLine, Wood Siding Material, House Building Type, and Cabin Building Type Visitors learn about energy and water conservation as they climb outdoor staircases that lead from the forest floor to the 125-foot-high rooftop rising above the leaf canopy.  Photo 12 of 16 in 15 Brilliant Designs That Work Around Nature from Sustainability Treehouse

15 Brilliant Designs That Work Around Nature

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Architecture firm Mithun designed the tree house so that it would tread lightly on the land. The firm originally considered prefabricating the entire structure offsite but, in the research process, concluded that craning large modules into place would potentially harm the canopy. A combination of a bolted-together prefab structure and site-built wood housing yielded the least intrusive construction option.