The Hemloft

“People thought I had gone a little bit mad,” says Allen. “I was compulsively refreshing Craigslist every two minutes waiting for that next item to come up and grab it before anyone else.”

During a walk through the woods in Whistler, British Columbia (Canada), Joel Allen took the decision to build a tree house. He had a problem, he hadn’t enough money or a place to build it up, so he started looking compulsively on Craigslist for free materials and built the structure on property that didn’t belong to him.

Joel helped by his friends, since he’s not an architect, built the tree house and kept the secret for three years, because Canadian officials wouldn’t be thrilled to learn he was squatting; but at the end he contacted Dwell Magazine, which published for the first time his tree house and in this way he broke the silence.

The tree house is a 200 square feet on a hemlock tree that stood at the edge of a 20 feet drop. The egg-shaped was constructed using 18 feet long ribs that run from top to bottom to form the structure. The cedar siding belongs to the interior of an old sauna. The windows are glass from broken cabinets, while the sliding door is composed by an old double pane door plus Rollerblade wheels on a track.

All the furniture inside is from Craigslist finds, and Joel used the space behind the stairs to place a little desk and to build sleeping quarters into the loft. In the terrace is situated a little kitchen, to cook something and eating on the open air looking at the mountains.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONLyd2gmV8]

A video that explains the tree house

For further information:
The Hemloft

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