When I was a boy growing up in rural Wisconsin, I built my share of tree houses — probably about a half dozen. Some even had doors and windows. When I take a walk along the pipeline here, I see a few simple ones that make me wonder how I would build one today, if I were so inclined.
I keep thinking about structures that are suspended between multiple trees or perhaps the branches of a large deciduous tree. The chief benefits of such a design are that it the levelness of the floor would be resistant to tree growth and it might add stability to the supporting trees. There are self-leveling picavets for stabilizing cameras in kite aerial photography that might be scaled-up with heavy cable and pulleys to support a tree fort. Would it be too scary to be in a rock-a-by tree house? Or would people become nauseous from motion sickness in high winds? An over-engineered version might have servos and accelerometers to counteract movement (or amplify it for added fun).
Posted by seander at October 28, 2004 05:22 PM