Buildings Made From Trees

By: Whole Tree Architecture

Supporting houses out of whole trees was first the philosophy of Roald Gunderson. He made this theory sixteen years ago, which
was pretty revolutionary for the time.

According to Forest Products Lab a whole unmilled tree can support 50% more than the largest piece of timber from the same tree. Whole Tree Architecture only build with weed trees, which I am assuming to mean that these are the trees that will never produce good timber. Going off of the Gunderson theory, they only use tree 10 inches or less in diamter and are usually taken from the clients site. They also use large trees that are downed by disease and/or wind. I love the artistry of the trees they use and I always love being green. It would be difficult to use these trees in any commercial product though for fear of being too literal about nature. Also, I wonder if they swell and contract like normal wood or if they treat it in some way that allows it to stay in a constant state.