Be sure to follow the link for more pictures of this crazy thing. [ZuZu Top via Make]

1. It's built atop two chestnut trees that were chopped down, so no roots, just engineering.

2. You can only get inside by using free-standing ladders.

3. It sways.

4. Tea is apparently brewed over an open fire.

5. I don't see no safety nets.

6. Its name. When the architect and owner, Terunobu Fujimori, set it up in Chino City, in the Nagano Prefecture in Japan, he called it Takasugi-an, which roughly translates as "tea house that's too high." Now there's a vote of confidence.

Lots more information and plenty of Edmund Sumner's great pictures over at Dezeen. [Dezeen]

Somehow they miss Finca Bellavista's Endor on earth treehouse village, but I could still totally live in these for life, especially the Yellow Tree House restaurant and the Naha Harbor Diner, since I would have people making me delicious food. In a tree!

Otherwise, I'd wanna live in the 4treehouse or Free Spirit Sphere (despite the stupid hippie name) just because they're beautiful and where evolved humans will live after the cities crumble and forests take over again the planet again. The steampunk tree house would also be sweet, if there weren't so many smelly, annoying people hanging around it—though I imagine after living in a tree for a while, you would be one of those smelly assholes too.

Update: Here's another roundup of treehouses that would make Wookies and Ewoks jealous, with fairly substantial commentary too. [Design Blog]

If that wasn't enough, Norris actually went all eco-friendly with his project by avoiding nailing directly into the maple tree and leaving space around the trunk for growth and shifting. He figures the whole thing cost him around $5000 CAD to build (he insured it for $20,000), and it would have cost a lot more had he not rummaged through scraps tossed out by the nearby University of Waterloo. It almost makes you wish you could be 7 again so you could find these kids and befriend them. [The Record via Fark]

Situated just above the tree top level, the idea is based on a green concept, where lightweight recyclable materials are used in its construction, and underneath the house, there will be what the company calls "undulating kinetic baffles" that use wind power to generate electricity. Even though this house could be built in less than two weeks, if they can just get this thing built in our lifetimes, we can have that treehouse we always wanted as kids.

Concept Tree House [Sybarite, via BornRich]

Starting at $45,000, his plans are evolving to include a separate bathroom sphere, and he's adding plumbing, electricity and other amenities.

Product Page [Tom Chudleigh via Cool Hunting]

This xmas, for instance, you could stuff your loved one's stocking with the $3.5 million Moller Skycar pictured above. It's a prototype that runs on ethanol and takes of vertically. The first test flight is scheduled for early 2006.

The Dreamboat Limited-Edition Levitating Sculpture uses a 6-foot long mahogany base filled with magnets that suspend a slab of polished aluminum in space. The magnets are supposedly made to never lose their strength—which is important to consider when you are investing $90,000.

There is also a custom-made treehouse starting at $50,000, a 1.5-hour private concert with Sir Elton John, and an old-fashioned strip-style photobooth for $20,000 (these are no longer in production, but you can find them on eBay for about the same price). There is a complete rundown over at The Purse Blog.

Christmas Gift Idea Extravaganza [Purse Blog]

[Thanks Vlad!]