When you talk about forest retreats, you tend to imagine a place filled with treehouse structures, where people can live right atop the thick trunks and branches of large, woody plants. OAS1S has a different kind of forest retreat in mind – instead of treehouses, people live in tall structures designed to look like trees that can be erected in the middle of a jungle without looking out of place.
The concept imagines designing a block in the city as an open space, filled with actual trees, kind of like a miniature park reserve. Then, you erect these tree-like structures within that expanse, essentially creating a community within a forest-like enclave. The lot is designed to be free of roads, so no cars can come through, essentially creating a mini-forest in the middle of a bustling metropolis. You know, a literal urban jungle.
The design of the OAS1S buildings are, literally, based on the form of trees, so they’re a lot more narrow (16.4 x 16.4 feet, width x depth) than your typical suburban home. To compensate, they propose to build them tall (at least 39 feet to accommodate four floors), with rooms stacked on top of one another. Each floor will have around 130 square feet of space, which can be outfitted any way a homeowner likes. Instead of paint, each of the wooden structures will be wrapped in foliage, making them look like a natural part of the surrounding green environment.
Yes, it’s weird, but not entirely far out, especially in this day and age of meticulously-designed spaces. While seeing something like this in the middle of the city is probably a stretch, we can definitely imagine someone taking OAS1S up as a basis for an eco-resort or a vacation destination.