Dezeen Magazine

Treehouse by Nicko Björn Elliott

Canadian designer Nicko Björn Elliott has completed a child's play house wrapped around a tree in Toronto.

The wooden structure is supported on pillars above an S-shaped bench at the base of the tree and features a pole for the children to slide down.

Shaded by the branches above, it is clad in translucent fibreglass.

Photographs are by Jesse Colin Jackson.

Here's some more information from Nicko Björn Elliott:

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Eight year-old Jorin and his big sister Matana, ten, sought a tree fort refuge on their downtown Toronto property to evoke the pleasures of cottage country during busy summers in the city.

Rather than being constructed on the tree, the project wraps itself around the mature pine tree and is supported on three pilotis above an S-shaped bench that skirts around the columns, tree trunk and slide pole.

With ample shading provided by low hanging boughs, a translucent corrugated fiberglass was used to clad the project. Throughout the day, the opalescent skin transmits the movement of shadows from the exterior to the interior.

The slats on the interior were painted colours selected by Jorin and Matana on three sides which, depending on the sun, reflects colour back onto the skin.