toilets?

Groceries from the car to the cupboard?

I love tree houses and modern design, but c'mon - does it really "encourage a more organic approach to country living?" I fail to see how moving something up 20 feet in the air does anything for the environment. Do it because it's cool, not because there's some notion that it's "green" to live above the trees.

I think the reason why it is "green living/environmental friendly" is because you are not cutting down any trees and also the foundation/footprint that is needed is substantial smaller that a normal house. Which in turns helps the soil underneeth the home to get water and for the land to continue to grow, thus the amount of square space needed for a normal size house has not been consumed. We get to build our house(s) either big or small, we get to grow and the grass, tress, soil, etc... still is maintained to a certain degree instead of being COMPETELY DESTROYED. Now I do have some question and no it is not something silly like getting something from the car to your home, anybody living in a 2 or 3 story building and above does that process every day! How does these structures fair during stormy weather, tornado or hurricanes? How deep/strong is the foundation for a flash flood? How much sunlight is being block out by the above PERMANENT structure? Their idea dose has potential

my q is...how much will it cost? it seems like the sort of thing only the top 1% of americans would own/be able to afford...if its cheap (enough) though, whats holding them back?

Toilets, groceries and other practical considerations are entirely appropriate concerns. If the house is extremely difficult to live in then it isn't likely to be used. You touched on the first issue I thought of when I saw the picture, though: The sunlight for the plants beneath this house are going to die from lack of sunlight. Furthermore, in order to just build the house you will likely have to cut down most of the trees below it anyway (for the same reason that so many communities have outlawed wooden shingles: The trees below the house would be a fire hazard). There are a host of reasons why this concept will remain exactly that...a concept.

Awesome design, but where do you go when the tornado sirens go, and can this design survive a tornado? This would be awesome for a federal park viewing area though.

This brings us one step closer to the Jetsons. I'm still waiting for my moving sidewalk and flying/folding car.

If there was a forest fire, you would feel like a pig dangling over a grill.

Toilets- Why not just flush everything down one of the "legs" holding the house up? Groceries- An elevator? Sunlight- There are plenty of herbs/shrubs & even a few species of trees that grow in low light environments and do not need direct sunlight at all. Cost- If they come premanufatured and all you have to do is buy the pieces and assemble them it should be fairly inexpensive. The already do this with modular homes and they're cheaper than building a house form the ground up and they go up much quicker. Like a few days maybe a week tops. I'm sure these would take longer than that but I bet it would be cheaper and quicker than building. Tornadoes- How well does anything hold up in a tornado. Not very. Tornadoes have a very specific path of destruction. Anything they actually hit is destroyed completely & indiscriminately, while things only a few feet away are left totaly unharmed. When I was a kid the farm we lived on was hit by one. The only way to be totaly safe from a T-do is to be underground. Also there are plenty of places where Tornadoes do not even hit. Flash Floods- I live near the Mississippi River and there are people in this area who already build there housese on stilts rather than move from the flood plane. They hold up fine during flash floods in fact it's pretty cool during floods. Hurricanes- Again how well does anything hold up. Unless you live on the South or east coast who cares?

uhm...Bob (how delightfully ironic!) your moving sidewalk can be found in any airport.

Thanks for the info NE1!

So uhh.. what.. park your car half a mile back and ride the four wheeler to the house?

Please explain to me how an elevator fits in to the environmentally friendly image of the house?