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Article: Beware of Squirrels.(environment-friendly architecture; Terreform)(Brief article)
- Article from:
- Newsweek
- Article date:
- May 28, 2007
- Author:
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Byline: LINDA STERN
Want a treehouse? A New York architect is taking orders for buildings constructed out of--and by--living trees. Mitchell Joachim developed the Fab Tree Hab with some colleagues while at MIT, but now he's gone past the conceptual stage with his nonprofit, Terreform.
The idea is to allow plants to grow over a computer-designed plywood structure. Once the plants are interconnected and stable, the plywood is removed and reused. Joachim is experimenting with Israeli plants that grow quickly and develop an interwoven root structure that's soft enough to "train" over the plywood, but then hardens into a more durable structure. The inside ...