Suspended Accomodation
Written on December 2, 2008 by round
Entering one of Tom Chudleigh’s round tree houses is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. The whole room sways and bounces with each step from table to bed, bed to loft, kitchen to door, causing a sort of “sphere sickness”. But after a moment, the sensation becomes almost magical.
The spheres, suspended by ropes, hang in a grove of trees on Chudleigh’s acreage outside Qualicum Beach on Vancouver island. He rents two of them out by the night like a bed and breakfast.
Part tree house, part giant floating alien eyeball, the spheres make strange looking lodging. A spiral staircase and a suspension bridge lead to a front door, which swings out like an airplane hatch. Inside are a hide a bed couch, a kitchen table that doubles as a bed, a mini kitchen and a loft. The whole unit is wired for electricity. Huge round windows provide most of the light and a bird’s eye view outside. The forest a mess of trees and shrubs at ground level suddenly doesn’t seem so foreign.
The spheres are a great place to communicate with nature. The ropes support the sphere without damaging a single tree. Each line is designed to hold the structure on its own, so if a branch breaks the sphere won’t fall. During big windstorms, like the ones that flattened Vancouver’s Stanley Park in December, the houses just away back and forth like boats on the ocean, which is where Chudleigh got the idea in the first place.
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