Square-metre studio strapped to tree in "exaggerated response" to office rental prices

German architecture studio Opposite Office has created a one-square-metre treehouse to work from, fixed to a tree at the Bauhaus University campus in Weimar.

Opposite Office designed the compact tree-bound structure, named Baumhaus Office, in response to high office rental prices in Munich, Germany, where the studio was previously based.

"Baumhaus Office is both a real office and a somewhat exaggerated response to the real estate market," Opposite Office founder Benedikt Hartl told Dezeen.

"Instead of competing with Munich's rental prices, we moved the office out of the rental market altogether, and into the trees."

Measuring around one square metre, Baumhaus Office was designed to accommodate up to three architects.

A ladder leads up to its cubic shape, which contains shelving, a desk and fold-down panels that provide additional workspace.

Overhead, a domed skylight gives views of the treetop foliage.

"Munich has become one of the most expensive cities in Germany to rent office space," said Hartl. "For a small architecture practice, paying a substantial amount every month simply to have a few square metres of desk space can feel slightly absurd."

"So we asked a simple question: How much office do you actually need to run an architecture practice? The answer is about one square metre – a laptop, a cutting mat as a modelling workspace and a tree."

Baumhaus Office was made from standard spruce timber planks sourced from the hardware store, with plywood panels partially covered in aluminium.

Two ratchet straps secure the office to the tree, with a matting material added as padding to protect the tree from damage.

"The timber is deliberately ordinary – there is no exotic treehouse engineering hiding behind the project," said Hartl. "The aluminium cladding, on the other hand, makes it waterproof and gives the small structure a slightly UFO-like appearance."

"The entire office is held in place by two very large belts," he continued. "No concrete foundation, no screws into the tree, no complicated anchoring system, just a very convincing embrace."

"In the first days it was a bit scary, but after a crowd load test under the surveillance of our engineer, we felt safe."

Hartl gained permission from the president at Bauhaus University Weimar to use the tree as the home for Baumhaus Office for a limited time period. He said the office can be disassembled and reinstalled on another tree "relatively easily".

"If anyone has a spare tree, preferably with a good view and no rent, we would be very happy to hear from you," said Hartl.

In Sweden, developer Riksbyggen and creative agency BBDO Nordics also made a commentary on property prices with three tiny flats designed to the square metres of housing a young person can afford.

Other treehouse structures that have featured on Dezeen include a self-built, triangular home clad in polycarbonate panels and a portable treehouse that can be towed by a bicycle.

The photography is courtesy of Opposite Office.

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