The Steampunk Tree House is representative of a mutually beneficial relationship between people and nature: humans living in harmony with the planet and its natural elements. The House component itself is built of recycled wood, styled after the Victorian age of architecture, H.G. Wells, and Jules Verne, wedded with the organic elements of nature. It’s a house of mystery both familiar and alien.
Recall the dwelling in the film, City of Lost Children, with its trapdoors, hidden compartments, cyborg fleas, oil lamps, wrought iron hardware, keys that unlock secret compartments, lookout perch, and organically styled wrought iron architecture. The House component is built into, and is a part of the Tree in which it sits. Its semi-exposed skeleton is made of structural steel pipe. Recycled gears, gauges, pipes and other metal objects adorn the Tree and House. A tire swing hangs from one of its main branches and an elaborately sculpted automaton metal condor perches in its branches.
Participants can climb up the inside of the tree, through its branches and into the house by scaling the inside of the trunk. Once inside, they can hang out in the Tree, leave messages or small objects in semi-secret compartments, and connect with each other through the shared experience of childhood tree climbing bonhomie. The Tree’s windows and balconies offer a stellar vantage point over the entire area. The framework and structure of the house is forged organically, cradled in the branches of the Tree. The house itself, designed by Sean Orlando is larger than “kid” size and smaller than “adult” size. The framework and skeleton of the house is made primarily of steel and wood. Solar panels provide power to the LED lights placed throughout the Tree’s limbs and branches. The small LED lights give the impression of twinkling fireflies or pixies, while the larger LED lights illuminate the tree and cast its shadow on the ground.
As the night comes alive, the Steampunk Tree House can also come alive with soft plumes of steam. Working in collaboration with The Kinetic Steam Works, KSW can drive up to and hook into the Tree via a steam hose, releasing endless curls of steam into the Tree, and making Tender fleeting dumplings of its lucky inhabitants!
The steam is provided via a series of semi-visible steam pipes and outlets installed throughout the Tree’s branches and trunk. In addition, the House component has its own independent steam ports, enabling it to occasionally function as a nocturnal steam sauna. The base of the Tree has a series of independent steam ports that, when opened, gives the impression that the House is floating on a cloud.
The Tree House may indeed remind people of a simpler, more innocent time. It may serve as a reminder of childhood, and as an example of how humans might live in harmony with the unnatural nature of nature. However, the tree is also meant to inspire critical thought on the part of its dwellers. Because of the combination of man-made materials —recycled metal and wood— the Tree’s very makeup is meant to regenerate the contemplative faculty, encouraging its inhabitants to reconsider the often-paradoxical relationship between humans, as well as with our environment. The Tree is also meant to exemplify the creative ways we can reuse materials to initiate sustainable living.
