International Competition
Design a Treehouse for a Tropical Island Resort
Questions and Answers 4
The two Mango trees, spaced 15 feet apart, are on the North East Coast of Maui, not far from Hana. Below the roots in front is a sizable stream bed with running water about 10% of the time. There is a clearing behind the trees and a beautiful 200 degree ocean view which is about one mile away, the elevation is approximately 600' above sea level.These are the last Questions and Answers posted at arcspace. All future questions and answers will be posted by David Greenberg at www.treehousesofhawaii.com.
David will include site plans, sleeve details as well as general information.
arcspace will continue to give you news about the competition.
We wish you good luck and look forward to publishing the winners.
kk and the arcspace team.
The beautiful Fiji beach lined with palm trees.
What is the climate like in the competition areas? Rain season, air temperatures, etc.
The climate at all sites, Fiji,Vietnam,China and Hawaii, is near perfect, day and night, summer and winter, never gets cold even at night only a little chilly in Hana late at night. You can use a lot of open screens. There are typhoons and monsoons in Vietnam and China.
Please explain lifestyle in a treehouse to us more? How are furniture like beds, chairs, tables handled in treehouses? Are they built locally?
Is there refrigerator in the kitchen? Please give more info. Are there going to be bedrooms plus living and eating areas?
How do the stair works, etc. Can a rope stair be used as main access to the house?
Can solar panels be considered for final designs?
Life style should be informal and compliment a laid back paradise environment but comfortable.You could design furniture but I would recommend that you look into that what has been designed and is available from local artisans. Yes you can use any stair type you want including rope and pulley elevator to get up.
Yes solar panels can be used.
Can the designs be multi-level houses?
If you design a group of smaller houses for group use, how many houses are incorporated in each group?
The designs should most probably be multilevel. You might want to group two or three treehouses for an "extended family".
Are toilets and kitchen considered for group use (more than one treehouse) or individually?
Normally each treehouse would be considered a separate unit for a couple, a family or a group. Toilets would be "private".
What is the preferred roof covering material?
I used three different kinds in China, shiplap planks with tar paper cover, palm fronds and also opaque vinyl sheeting, you could also use tin or others materials.
What is the maximum projection from the tree trunk to edge of house? In other words how far can the house extend from the tree trunk?
If you want an even medium size treehouse, I suggest you use more that one tree. I have seen treehouses built around one tree with large projections but those were giant fir trees.
How much weight can a single palm tree support, and how are the palm trees anchored to the ground?
They are not anchored, they are either transplanted to the site or already growing. God will take care of the anchoring in about three month.
Michael Garnier may give you more information about that, he is our technical consultant.
Do the competitors need to use only one tree trunk to fix their house to, or can they use more than one tree? Or can we just design based on a coconut tree which will be planted on a site we choose?
You can definitely use more than one coconut tree.
You decide how many and we will transplant to design, takes 3 months to establish, they will be living trees you should design them for 20 to 30' height and about 10" to 15" in diameter.
How are structural wood members attached to each other and to tree trunk? Do you expect competitors to resolve details or to come up with ideas for the house? Do details need to be shown on the drawings? In the official announcement it says "all connections to a tree must be in the form of a stainless steel sleeve....." Can you explain more what is this sleeve like
To attach to a tree an "Artificial limb" (or resting on a real limb as well) can be inserted into the tree, it is stainless steel about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and about 25 inch long, the first half with threaded screw goes into the tree, then a 3 inch disk seals the wound and the beam rest on the protruding 12 inch. For coconut trees you should use a collar as the fiber is totally different and will not support an artificial limb.
I suggest you only have a rigid connection to one tree.
A drawing of a sleeve will be shown separately.
What is proposed for hiding the water pipes running up to the treehouse?
Hiding water pipes is a problem, I have previously avoided that by not having bathrooms and kitchens inside. I did use bamboo to cover pipes in one treehouse... get creative here!
What kind of propane system is used for the kitchens? Where does the gas come from? Piped to the site or in portable metal containers or tanks? Please explain. If in tanks, how is it brought to the house?
We use portable 5 gallon Propane tanks hooked up to Chinese hot water heaters on demand approximately 5"x15"x22".
As a guide for competitors, could you please give the plans and elevations drawings of an already built treehouse in the area?
Check www.treehousesofhawaii.com
Is there any format of drawings in terms of paper size, use of color or b&w drawings for presenting the ideas? Who will be asked to submit models? Is this the second stage of the competition?
Drawings of sites and positions of trees with drawings and pictures will be available within a week.
In answer to the quality of the drawings; I would make them as nice as possible as the winners will most probably be published in magazines and hopefully a book, not to mention a gallery show we are planning.
The 100 winners will be asked to submit a model.
Can you publish the "The Baron in the Trees" by Italo Calvino on the net?
You will have to buy it. I also heard about a monk who lived in a treehouse in China in the 6th Century, and there is a book available at most bookstores and Libraries which would be very helpful called "Treehouses, The Art and Craft of Living Out on A Limb by Peter Nelson, a Houghtan Miflan book, I recommend it though it is a little out of date. Also check my site at www.treehousesofhawaii.com and the internet for ideas.
Could you please give prize categories and cash amounts to be paid to winners?
All 100 winners will receive one month free in a treehouse. Three winners will also receive airfare.
Cash prizes will be announced at a slightly later date.
Questions and Answers 1
Questions and Answers 2
Questions and Answers 3
