A Japanese firm, Ryuichi Ashizawa Architects, have designed a tree house situated on a 323 square foot site for a couple in Osaka .

Their concept is based on sustainable systems. Structural columns intertwine like ivy supporting slabs on each floor, and soil is placed on the slabs to plant local vegetation.

Traditional Japanese movable walls walls, like a shoji or a fusuma, separate the indoor and outdoor spaces. Sunlight, wind, and rain provide the home’s natural energy circulating as “efficiently as tree circulates air.”

Treehouse elevation

The architects describe the house as a reconstruction of the relationship between nature, people, and architecture.

via Designboom

Photos courtesy of the architects.