This HK$19 million eco-friendly treehouse collects water and regulates temperature

Modern urban development and environmental protection seem to be two opposing concepts that cannot comfortably co-exist: the demands of one must be subordinated to those of the other.

This is because “modern construction methods are often energy intensive, which implies high carbon emissions ... accelerating global climate change – which is known to be irreversible,” says Dr Anthony Leung, a Hong Kong-born senior lecturer in civil engineeringat the University of Dundee, Scotland.

Modernisation as a process is continuing and unstoppable but, according to Leung, it is not always impossible to go green. To combat the negative effects of modernisation on the environment, Leung has come up with a sustainable treehouse design which makes use of advanced engineering concepts, all under a green roof.

“Civil engineers are responsible for developing more innovative and low carbon emissions construction techniques, enhancing the engineering sustainability and the resilience of civil infrastructure,” Leung says.

His approach to building a treehouse involves “working with” nature, rather than against it. “Living [in harmony] with [the] natural environment has multiple potential benefits that have, however, been undermined ... by the power of nature in the past,” he says.

Putting his treehouse design concept into practice, Leung forgoes making use of conventional building materials and uses sustainable substitutes instead, making good use of natural resources without exhausting limited resources. As Leung points out, “continuous depletion of limited resources, such as cement, is ... environmentally unfriendly and is not sustainable.”

Leung’s two-storey treehouse uses basic structural components. The building’s supporting columns are living evergreen mature trees.

“Structurally speaking, a tree trunk [of] sufficient diameter is strong and stiff against both compression and tension, [and can] carry and then transmit floor loads to the foundation soil,” he says. With this approach, no wood is lumbered for space and residents can feel at home in nature.

Keeping a house warm usually involves producing greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute towards raising the global temperature. Leung’s treehouse design, however, has a natural temperature regulation system, which consists of having climbing plants on the exterior walls, plus wooden floor slabs inside, which have excellent thermal insulation properties.