Italian architect designs wooden treehouse

The ultimate wooden treehouse has now been unveiled in Turin, Italy, in the style of a 'living forest'.

Architect Luciano Pia said he wanted his '25 Shades of Green' project to combine the childhood dreams of owning a treehouse with the modern practicalities of living in a city.

The steel structure, with 63 flats inside, has a rooftop garden and trees growing out of the walls.

Mr Pia said he wanted to create an outdoor feel for the building, which has been three years in the making.

'I wanted to give people the chance to escape having to look all the time at Turin's urban sprawl and to create a multi-storey natural alternative', he said.

The seasonal progression of the 150 trees planted around the property create a 'microclimate' within the building, steadying extreme temperatures during the winter and summer months. 

Each species of plants was chosen carefully to make sure there was a rich variety of colour and blossom depending on the time of year, and in total the trees are capable of absorbing close to 200,000 litres of carbon dioxide an hour.

The project is also very environmentally friendly, making use of the latest developments in technology with heating and cooling systems that utilise geothermal energy with heat pumps, and rainwater is collected and 'recycled' to water the green. 

Mr Pia added: 'This natural absorption brings pollution protection only to residents, but in the city is also helping to eliminate harmful gasses caused 

by cars. 

(dailymail.co.uk)