"Inspirational"

One of the tasks of our brief was to contribute something inspirational to the Digital Carnival Facebook page/our blogs. In my mind, I considered a "gift" of architecture would be the space it allows us to inhabit, the manipulation of our environment and the gift of privacy. Architecture is the natural extension of our environment, successful architecture, in my mind, is something that adds something new, but thought provoking to the landscape, which encompasses all three of these gifts.

I went through several articles, none of which seemed to show these three gifts (space, manipulation of environment and privacy) until I found the "Treehouse" by Tham & Videgard Hansson.

This treehouse is a simple mirrored box, but the way it manipulates the environment is very poetic, it is an obstruction yet it feels almost natural, like it should be there. Whilst the outside says a lot, we can't even begin to guess at the interior of this building. Anything could be inside, you wouldn't know, it gives an almost complete sense of privacy within.

Here is the original article I found, showing the "Treehouse" - the design I feel most accurately conveys my ideas of the gifts of space, environmental manipulation and privacy.

(http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/swedish-mirrored-treehouse.php)