The best green treehouse designs

Tree tents by Dutch sculptor and designer Dré Wapenaar. Originally designed to ease the lives of tree-sitting activists, they also make excellent treetop retreats for campers, kids, and anyone soothed by an evening spent softly swaying among the branches. Each beautifully formed droplet attaches directly to a tree trunk and is roomy enough to sleep a family of four Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

The new Yellow Treehouse restaurant, designed by New Zealand-based Pacific Environments Architects, is perched high above a redwood forest. Looking like an enormous chrysalis grafted onto a 40m-high redwood tree, the project is constructed of plantation poplar slats, redwood balustrading milled at the site, and makes extensive use of natural lighting throughout Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

New York’s Madison Square Garden has taken on a Swiss-Family-Robinson feel lately. This is due to an art exhibition featuring work by Tadashi Kawamata called Madison Square Tree Huts, which was unveiled last month. A gathering of small wooden houses up in the trees, these project aims to shake up our notion of public space and how it interacts with ideas of urbanity, rural romanticism and play Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

Although this towering concrete treehouse isn’t really green, we couldn’t help but be awestruck by its sheer craziness.The Naha Harbor Diner in Okinawa, Japan is a life-size rendition of a banyan tree. The diner features a 20ft-tall tree with a restaurant nestled amid its branches. Accessible by a spiral staircase around back and an in-trunk elevator, the restaurant specialises in locally grown and organic harvested foods fresh from the farm Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

Canada-based Tom Chudleigh has created these Free Spirit Eco Spheres. Chudleigh’s simple floating spheres are hung like pendants from the treetops. Each sphere is handcrafted from fibreglass and locally sourced wood and is capable of accepting an electrical line for electricity and heating. A weblike support system ensures that the spheres stay stable, and they can be reached by spiral staircases wound around the tree trunks Photograph: inhabitat.com/Public Domain

Nestled amid lush pine and magnolia trees, this treehouse from Baumraum updates a traditional backwoods form with a sharp modern profile. The quadratic cube is supported by two high-quality steel frames and features a terrace and an outdoor shower. The interior is outfitted with a full set of modern features including a stereo system, heating, and large windows that contribute ample amounts of natural light, making it a perfect place to enjoy the outdoors no matter the season Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

The O2 sustainability treehouse is inspired by the construction of Buckminster Fuller’s infamous geodesic dome. Freelance furniture designer Justin Feider discovered that by following Fuller’s lead, he could use less material and construct a more stable structure than that of the ‘traditional’ treehouse - most importantly, without at all harming the tree Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

Feider’s makeshift abode truly stands out, particularly at night, when the translucent polypropylene panels that make up the structure appear to glow from within. Half of the panels open up, allowing for ample air circulation as well as a gorgeous lightshow during sunset when the treehouse casts purple shadows. All the materials used for the treehouse are entirely recycled Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

Posing as a Japanese lantern on stilts, the 4Treehouse by Lukasz Kos floats within the fir trees on Lake Muskoka, Ontario. Letting the existing trees set the parameters of the project, the tree house was constructed around the base of four existing trees, rather than stretching between them. The project was an exercise in minimising impact to the trees, site, and nature itself Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com

Fab Tree Hab utilises “pleaching” - a gardening technique in which tree branches are woven together to form living archways. Trees such as elm, live oak and dogwood bear the heavier loads, while vines, branches and plants form a lattice for the walls and roof of the house. The interior structure is made of cob (clay and straw), a tried and true green building approach, that lends itself to customised shaping of walls and ceilings Photograph: inhabitat.com/inhabitat.com