Those crazy guys from MIT’s Media Lab, more specifically Mitchell Joachim et al. of the Smart Cities Group, have conceived the Fab Tree Hab — a home that doesn’t just use “green” design; rather it is itself a living ecosystem.
The basic framework of the house would be created using a gardening method known as pleaching, in which young trees are woven together into a shape such as an archway, lattice, or screen and then encouraged to maintain that form over the years. The goal was to develop a method to grow homes from native seeds. This enables these new local dwellings to be a part of an absolutely green community.
Joachim’s studio Archinode has details of more of his interesting projects.
Summary article available on Technology Review.
