In Germany, architects have created an office in a tree that measures just one square meter
The German architecture studio Opposite Office has created a miniature treehouse office measuring just one square meter. The compact structure, called the Baumhaus Office, was installed on the campus of the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
The architects developed this unusual project after the studio faced high office rental prices in Munich.
Instead of searching for a more affordable space, the architects decided to literally take their workspace beyond the confines of the traditional real estate market.
“Baumhaus Office is both a real office and a somewhat exaggerated reaction to the situation in the real estate market. Instead of competing on rent prices, we took the office out of the rental market altogether and moved it up into the trees,” said Benedict Hartl, founder of Opposite Office.
Despite its tiny size, the Baumhaus Office is equipped with everything needed to work.
A staircase leads up to the little house, and inside there is:
- a desk;
- shelves;
- fold-out panels that allow you to expand the workspace.
A dome-shaped skylight has been installed at the top of the structure, through which you can see the treetops.
In this way, the project’s designers combined a minimalist workspace with the opportunity to work right among the trees.
Standard fir boards purchased from a hardware store, as well as plywood panels partially clad in aluminum, were used for construction.
The structure is secured to the tree with two straps and clamps. To prevent damage to the trunk, a special matte material was used as a cushion between the tree and the fasteners.
“We deliberately chose ordinary wood—there’s no exotic treehouse engineering behind this project. The aluminum cladding, on the other hand, makes it waterproof and gives this small structure a look somewhat reminiscent of a UFO,” explained Hartl.
The founder of Opposite Office received permission from the rector of the Bauhaus University in Weimar to temporarily use the tree as an office location.
According to Hartl, the structure can be dismantled “relatively easily” and then installed on another tree.
The Baumhaus Office project has thus become an unconventional architectural solution to the problem of high office rental costs, transforming an ordinary tree into a fully functional—albeit extremely compact—workspace.
This was reported by Dezeen.
