The Fab Tree Hab is a hypothetical ecological home design developed at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

in the early

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

by Mitchell Joachim, Javier Arbona and Lara Greden. With the idea of easing the burden humanity places on the environment with conventional housing by growing "living, breathing" tree homes. It would be built by allowing native trees to grow over a computer-designed ( CNC) removable

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

scaffold. Once the plants are interconnected and stable, the plywood would be removed and reused. MIT is experimenting with

trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only p ...

that grow quickly and develop an interwoven root structure that's soft enough to "train" over the scaffold, but then hardens into a more durable structure. The inside walls would be conventional

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

and

plaster Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

. An old methodology new to buildings is introduced in this design: pleaching. Pleaching is a method of weaving together tree branches to form living

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

ways, lattices, or screens. The technique is also named " aeroponic culture". The load-bearing part of the structure uses trees that self-graft or inosculate such as

live oak Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus ''Quercus'' that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to o ...

elm Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the genus ''Ulmus'' in the family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical- montane regions of North America and Eurasia, ...

and

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous ...

. The lattice frame for the walls and roof are created with the branches of the trees. Vines create a dense protective layer woven along the exterior, interspersed with soil pockets and growing plants. This building could be very sustainable as it can use bio-waste for manure for the trees. Which can use the grey water from the home for the trees and garden. There are plans to be able to use rainwater. These building would improve the quality of life by giving back to nature instead of just exploiting it. Throughout the whole life cycle of the home it remains part of the ecology, feeding different organism at different times of its life. The expected life span is greater than standard structures of brick and concrete. The whole community and the individual would befit from this life style. The Fab Tree Hab is an experiment that would develop over time. Extra operating costs required over the life-time of the home include pest management with organic pesticides and maintenance of the living machine's water treatment system. Technical demonstration and innovation is still needed for certain components, primarily the bioplastic windows that accept growth of the structure and the management of flows across the wall section to assure that the interior remains dry and animal-free. All in all, the elapsed time to reach livability is greater than the traditional sense, but so should be the health and longevity of the home and family. Above all, building this home could be achieved at a minimal price. Depending on the surrounding climate the house is to be grown in, the team expect it will take a minimum of five years to complete its structure. Realization of these homes will begin as an experiment, and it is envisioned that thereafter, the concept of renewal will take on a new

architectural form In architecture, form refers to a combination of external appearance, internal structure, and the Unity (aesthetics), unity of the design as a whole, an order created by the architect using #Space and mass, space and mass. External appearance Th ...

, one of inter-dependency between nature and people. As of May 2007 Mitchell Joachim stated that there is a "50 per cent" organic project in California, combining natural elements and traditional construction.

Trees

Main trees suggested to be used are

and

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

s. The teams hopes the homes can be grown using mainly native trees.

References

External links

* {{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323231255/http://www.popsci.com/arbona/article/2006-11/grow-your-second-home , date=March 23, 2014 , title=Popular Science: Grow Your Second Home
Newsweek: Terreform - Building Houses Out of Living Trees

MIT Architecture: Computation WORKS

Arborsmith Studios- Shaped trees, history, books, tools

5 minute Video talk Mitchell gave at TED
Sustainable technologies Architectural theory Landscape Tree shaping pt:Eco-design ta:தாங்குதிறன் வடிவமைப்பு zh:永續設計

Trees

See also

References

Further reading

External links