I remember that a few years ago I had heard that at least one century ago, Germans had seen that the Latvians living in trees.
Of course, there is no historical explanation for that, however, is not denial of the fact that the Northern people have a special relationship with trees. They have always been symbols of power and gave shelter and livelihood as the rich, and the poor. Now that the world is overpopulated, we seek to live as environmentally friendly. I think that mostly we all know what a treehouse is. Also, this may be the solution to global overpopulation. For example, the Latvian forests cover more than half of the state space, approximately 52%. This is a tremendous amount. This opportunity is used in Sweden. Treehouse is transformed into an exclusive hotel with the opportunity to be closer to nature.
So what is Treehotel?
Why not create a comfortable, well designed hotel which allows visitors to live in harmony with nature amongst the trees?
Well, with the help of a group of well known designers and architects, we have now turned the idea into a reality. We have a group of unique rooms created in harmony with nature, and with our ecological values. They are all set in the forest where we live, a refinement of the local conditions. “Dig where you stand” as the saying goes.
It is important that we find another way to value the forest, rather than to cut the trees for industrial use. This Boreal forest is one of the Earth’s lungs. We need to look after it.
Our inspiration came from the documentary film “Trädälskaren” (Treelover) by Jonas Selberg Augustsen. It is the story of three men from the urban environment who look to get back to their roots by building a tree house together. It is a philosophical film about what “the tree” means to us humans, both historically and culturally.
It has been our inspiration to expand the idea into a hotel, with the added dimension of innovative modern design.
We are working to make the construction and daily running of the Tree Houses as green as possible, which is consistent with our values and, we hope, yours too.
Could this be the right soulution? To learn more about Treehotel, I suggest to watch the video of Reuters and share with your views on whether the treehouse will be able to solve the global problem of overcrowding?
*Main picture from Treehotel
Edgars, tree hotel is definitely something different.
Will scenic walks be OK for animals? They are going to lose their tranquility.
I know that it is something different, but facing the fact it is business, but it could be also for normal living. I know some houses in Latvia, which is build quite similar, no trees were cut down and all waters goes down in reservoirs, not into groundwaters.
I wrote a post relating to different living: http://development.thinkaboutit.eu/think3/post/interesting_watch_garbage_warrior
We should certainly test other alternatives of living and Treehotel does exactly that.
Hi Edgars,
In my opinion your last question is wrong because the developers of the Treehotel don’t claim that they can solve the problem of overcrowding. They just want to bring us back closer to nature. Or maybe I miss something?
Hi Johan,
No, you are completely right!
Threehotel was just example of way how and where to live. Threehotel is business project, but houses in forests can be some kind of problem solver. Of course not for everyone. It would be wrong to think that houses in/on trees could finally solve the problem of overcrowding. It is just another option how live with nature but in the same time - appropriate use of free space 
But would it actually be an appropriate use of free space?
I don’t think forests can be perceived as free space. We would just take the space from animals and tribes living in the woods.
Funny. This post made me think of Calvino’s Baron in the Trees
http://www.amazon.com/Baron-Trees-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156106809
@Hanna, I definitely agree, but there are not so many tribes living in the Swedish forests.
In other parts of the world, your point is valid, though.
There is definitely so much space that tree houses like these will not hurt wildlife… after all there are all kinds of cottages in the forests, so these houses hardly make any change.
I don’t think that he tries to solving anything - just attract tourist, but he does it in quite a nice way. Have you guys seen Hay Shafer and his mini-houses? I saw <a hrewf=“http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-jay-shafer-20910192”>this video</a> today, and that seems like another innovative way to come to terms with over-crowding and excessive energy usage.
@Edgar did you really live in the trees? That would be awesome. In Sweden people bulilt tree houses, and houses on poles, where they stored food away from animals. But they didn’t live there.