Will Tree Houses Take Root?

That's living in a tree, not up a tree. Researchers from M.I.T. have come up with the concept of 'pleaching' trees in order to make them into homes. Pleaching is an unusual word but it means pleating or weaving branches together. The idea is that instead of making homes from planks cut from trees, it will be easier and greener to encourage the trees to grow into the proper shape by themselves. It sounds like an ingenious, modern scheme. But there is nothing new under the sun.

Shakespeare mentioned pleaching in 'Much Ado about Nothing.' In medieval times, the Europeans pleached their trees much like we weave vines today. Their building system went out of fashion - probably when the first handy-man discovered it was more fun cutting trees down than coaxing them to grow.

Mitchell Joachim, one of the architects of the scheme calls it a 'positive contribution to the climate.' Instead of building a home in future, all we will need to do is grow one - take a trip along to your local nursery and order a split-level, five bedroom home, and be prepared to wait five years until it is grown to your specifications. While you're waiting, you can rent a bush.

One thing you wouldn't have trouble with, is naming your home. There would be a plethora of homes called, The Oaks; The Elms; The Maples. In fact it would be a bit like domain names, wouldn't it? theoaks623569. Living tree-homes is an ingenious idea, and will appeal to arboriculturists, rather than carpenters. Thinking about an extension? Instead of having it built by a fly-by-night contractor, you will only need to place a few wedges in the proper places and let the extension grow by itself.

You would have no trouble with the water supply as the tree would have a built in water collection system via its leaves, and not only would the roots make short work of your compost, it would also help your home to grow.

Will the idea grow on the American public? Not a chance! What would the average guy do with his time if the home could grow its own shelves and closets? How could he prove his manhood if the house branched out without him? And think of the millions of unemployed there would be when thousands of factories closed down because nails, chainsaws, stud finders and cordless drills were no longer needed? Glaziers would still have jobs, as would electricians, but roofers and Realtors would have a thin time of it.

Tree houses? Are M.I.T. barking mad? There is no growth in the concept at all - unless your name is Tarzan, that is.