So. You think that wood frame construction is as close as you'll get to a renewable resource embedded in your home. Cut down a tree, saw it into nice little planks, and build your habitat. Renewable yes, but inefficient construction if you can get the tree to do most of the work. If Mitchell Joachim has his way, the tree becomes the house. Enter the Fab Tree Hab. The trick is to model a plywood home structure and then allow trees with quick-growing and hardy root systems to enclose the plywood. Once the plant structure is fully interconnected and stable the plywood is removed and the home is almost complete. The inside walls would be traditional materials such as clay or plaster and other design elements such as windows are under development to account for the "growing" nature of the walls.
In industrialized nations with the nightmare of zoning regulations, the tree may be a hard sell. How do you give the city specs to a project that changes almost every day during its lifespan? But for developing nations with scarcity of materials, funds, and building experience yet typically deep experience in sustainable farming this "tree house" may develop into one of many low-cost and sustainable building practices that pulls the worlds poor out of the sun and INTO a shaded tree.
