ORIGIN Treehouse by LEVIT Wraps Around an Oak Tree in France

The French architecture firm Atelier LAVIT were contacted in 2017 by a client with an unusual request: to create a cabin among the trees of a forest – a treehouse.

The project has been dubbed ORIGIN Treehouse by its designers, and can be found perched among the oaks of of a forest in Rue Nicholas de Lancy in Raray, France.

The tailor-made treehouse wraps around a hundred-year-old oak tree. According to the architects, the tree itself was the starting point: “A hundred-year-old oak… was the start point: how to sublimate the tree? Creating around it a tailored wooden-dress.” They ended up opted for an octagonal structure, supported by the trunk.

ORIGIN Treehouse contains a total area of 247.57-square-feet (23-square-meters). The clients, who run a hotel, requested that the treehouse function as a comfortable hotel room. This lead the architects to envision the retreat as a kind of “bird’s nest”, providing comfort and security among the treetops.

The structure is accessed by a long wooden footbridge or via a ladder. The entrance to the “cabin” flanks you with two glass doors. The layout is open plan, so entering through either door will allow you to access all of the units living spaces. ORIGIN Treehouse features a living area, followed by a bedroom and a bathroom.

There’s also a small patio area that allows you to soak up the forest surroundings. From the architects: “A wooden ladder invites to continue the ascent in close contact with the tree, to find with wonder a large 360 ° panoramic roof-terrace.A belvedere on the oak forest of the domain, as surprising as unexpected because it’s hidden by the exterior wooden cladding.”

For more treehouses check out Inhabit Treehouse, a two-bedroom lofted retreat from Woodstock. Or, Pigna, a pair of pine cone inspired treehouses from the Italian Alps. See all treehouses.

Photos © Marco Lavit Nicora