Treehouses in Paradise: Fantasy Designs for the 21st Century [Hardcover]

David Greenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2006

In September 2000, urban designer and self-proclaimed anti-architect David Greenberg launched an international competition to solicit innovative, ecological treehouse designs for implementation as hotels at far-flung resorts in Hawaii, China, Vietnam, and Fiji. Nearly 500 architects responded. This book compiles the top 99 designs, chosen by an esteemed panel of judges. One look at the fantastic structures presented here makes it clear this isn't Swiss Family Robinson territory: These treehouses are pure flights of fancy, many of which would look right at home in a science fiction film, but many of which are also ecological and use indigenous materials. Floor plans, computer-generated renderings, elevation plans, and scale models appear with the wildly creative designs, along with descriptive essays by the architects, bringing these high-tech, low-cost structures to life, and giving readers a look into an environmentally-friendly architectural future that is all too present.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Greenberg was the founder in the 1970s of Environmental Communications, the world's foremost architectural and planning educational distribution company, and is the author of numerous books and catalogs, including the landmark work Environmental Communications. He has built his own treehouses in Hawaii, which are available to travelers, and acts as a top consultant on ecological tourism resort projects in China and Hawaii. Greenberg lives in Hawaii.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810958376
• ISBN-13: 978-0810958371
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun ideas, August 19, 2006

By 

Alex Tolley (Los Gatos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Treehouses in Paradise: Fantasy Designs for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

This book contains the submitions for a competition to design tree houses in a tropical climate. The best way to think of the designs is that they represent minimal shelter in a benign climate. There is a plethora of forms, mostly "experimental", some very imaginative and delightful. For the most part, the designs are not finished, in that they would need considerably more details of their construction to determine how practical they would be. That detail may exist, but it is not provided in the book, and there is no place to try to reference them. If these structures were built, they do not need to be attached to palm trees, but rather suspended by posts or anchored to walls. Think of the Dymaxion house as an example.

Ignore the frothy accomnpanying text - it is full of hyperbole and general BS. Just examine the structural forms and think how they may be created. Despite the title, many of the structures would work quite well as summer structures in the US, although I shudder at the thought of getting permits if needed.

Overall, this is a reasonably good book of ideas to stimulate the imagination. Now where are my tools...

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Proof that art majors are not engineers, April 26, 2006

By 

J. Hopkins "Baja James" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Treehouses in Paradise: Fantasy Designs for the 21st Century (Hardcover)

This book is a coffee table book for Disney fans. While the creations are artistic they are not sound by any strech of the imagination. If you are looking for information that you can use look elsewhere. If you are looking for pretty pictures that defy logic and and engineering this is the book for you.