The Treehotel in Sweden Adds a New Tree House to its Forest

A Modernist mirrored cube that glints and reflects the sky and leaves designed by Tham & Videgård Architects

Tree houses capture the imagination and tap into the inchoate, distant memory of our hunter-gatherer past. Today, green architecture is the design zeitgeist of our age and living amid the treetops has never been more exciting, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento

Close to the Arctic Circle and with a vista of the aurora borealis, a cluster of tree houses has become one of the most sought after retreats in Northern Sweden. Called the Treehotel, it is located near the lovely village of Harads in Swedish Lapland. Founders Britta and Karl Lindvall commissioned innovative Scandinavian architects to come up with a unique design for each house. In the middle of the forest, Lindvall has created a laboratory for contemporary architecture.

The sixth tree room of the planned twenty-four retreats is called the Five Leaf Clover and is designed by Finnish studio Rintala Eggertsson Architects. Sitting up high on century-old pine trees, it has wide-ranging views and is the largest at fifty-three square metres. Clad in weathered steel, the interior will be lined with plywood.

“At Treehotel we always strive to push limits with our environmental work, architecture and engineering," said Kent Lindvall. "Nothing like the Five Leaf Clover has ever been done before.” The building is attached to six pine trees and hovers six metres above the ground. Visitors climb a two-storey-high staircase to reach the tree house with its three bedrooms and large conference room.

The other tree houses finished in 2010 range from the twiggy Bird’s Nest that nestles in the treetops to a Modernist mirrored cube that glints and reflects the sky and leaves. In between are a surreal UFO tree house that looks like it’s just landed for a pitstop and a fairytale red cottage that has stepped from the pages of Little Red Riding Hood.

The reflective cube was designed by Tham & Videgård Architects with a pale, clean-lined interior and aerodynamic furniture. The Bird’s Nest, designed by Bertil Harström, is encased in branches and entered via a retractable stair case. Inside, it is also crisply Scandavian. There are no faux twig Man Friday tables and chairs, just a sleek, Swedish interior designed for the global traveller.

The Mirror Cube can accommodate two people and includes a living room, large bed, a small kitchenette, a bathroom and a roof terrace. One of the cleverest ideas is the use of infrared film laminated onto the glass panes and visible only to birds. It prevents them from flying into the tree house’s reflective walls.

The UFO tree house was also designed by Harström and looks like a flying saucer from the cult film Plan 9 From Outer Space. Inside, the curving interior has retro 1970s’ style cushions and sofas lit by round windows. The red cabin among the tree trunks is called the Blue Cone and was designed by Sandell Sandberg and constructed from birch shingle using traditional techniques.

The most utilitarian treehouse is Cyrén & Cyrén's cabin, suspended from a bridge. The cabin has a roof-top terrace to survey the trees and a comparatively spacious interior with specially designed built-in furniture and lamps. The Treehotel is 60 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle but is accessible to visitors as an hour's drive away is Luleå, the town with the largest airport in Northern Sweden. 

For more information visit the Treehotel website: http://www.treehotel.se

Architect Bertil Harström designed both the Bird's Nest tree house pictured above and the UFO below. 

The Blue Cone is actually a red tree house made from traditional birch shingles and designed by Sandell Sandberg.

Another view of the UFO tree house in the snow with it's round windows lit up in the twilight that bring light to the retro 1970's sofa and cushions in the picture below.

Cyrén & Cyrén architects designed the Cabin which is suspended high up among the trees and has a rooftop terrace

The Mirror Cube's walls reflect the trees around it so it becomes part of the forest. 

The interior of the Mirror Cube with it's sleek Scandinavian design and furniture ~ no rustic Man Friday aesthetic here.

The reflective glass walls of the Mirror Cube that are laminated with an infrared film that only birds can see to prevent them flying into the tree house.

The tree house that seems to float like a giant nest in the forest when it's ladder is pulled up. 

Artist's rendering of the Five Leaf Clover, the biggest tree house finished this year. The weathered steel building is designed by Finnish studio Rintala Eggertsson Architects and has three bedrooms and a living room.  

Secret Rome: Atmospheric Quartiere Coppedè

Photojournalist Christian Evren Gimotea Lozañes captures the looming Gothic apparition of the Quartiere Coppedè. Jeanne-Marie Cilento reports from Rome

Even on a sunny day with the Eternal City’s sapphire blue skies gleaming above, the quarter’s darker and more obscure corners have an ominous air. Dripping with stony ornament, towered buildings flank a long, low archway lit by an enormous wrought-iron chandelier that leads to the main square, Piazza Mincio. 

The extraordinary mix of Art Nouveau, Ancient Roman, Egyptian, Medieval and Renaissance motifs is the product of one prolific mind, the Florentine architect Gino Coppedè. In 1916, he was given an architect’s ideal project ~ the opportunity to design an entirely new residential quarter of Rome in Parioli. Given creative carte blanche by the clients, the architect allowed his imagination to run amok and designed an enclave more baroque in sensibility than even Bernini could dream up for 16th Century Rome.

Gino Coppedè was born in Florence in 1866 and began his career as a boy sculpting decorative pieces for furniture. Later he attended the Professional School of Industrial and Decorative Arts, graduating when he was twenty-four and becoming a member of the city's Academy of Fine Arts. The architect continued to work in Rome creating extraordinary buildings in the Quartiere Coppedè until 1927.

The original designs were not created for an eccentric millionaire but for a Ligurian building association to house the city’s growing professional class and civil servants. The stone carved winged serpents, monolithic eastern heads and putti that decorate the buildings all come from Gino Coppedè's youth when he worked in the wood carving studio of his father. 

Walking around the Quartiere Coppedè feels like being in a bizarre fairytale with it’s combination of Florentine towers and Venetian palaces decorated with mosaics and frescoes, Baroque Roman palazzi with real and imitation papal stemmata, sundials and even a building with ironwork and carvings in the form of musical notation. 

Today, forty-five different buildings from three to six stories high make up the Quartiere Coppedè. The mosaic-tiled archways, intricate brickwork, turrets, towers and loggias all create a unique architectural borgo amid one of Rome's most sober and wealthy residential suburbs. 

The Quartiere Coppede's central Piazza Mincio with it's massive Art Nouveau  fountain.

Completed in 1924, the Fontana delle Rane's dynamic figures and water creatures dominate Piazza Mincio. 

Full of movement and fantasy, the fountain's sculptures depict giant shells and water nymphs. 

Spouting head of the Fontana della Rane at the heart of the Coppede Quarter in Parioli

Facade showing architect Gino Coppede's extraordinary mix of architectural and historical motifs from the Roman Corinthian columns and Renaissance loggia to the Art Nouveau curling cast iron balcony and tiles.

Detail of the building's entrance with it's graphic black and yellow tiles, iron and glass lamp and panelled wooden doors.

The fantastical Villino delle Fate with it's mix of terracotta, cast iron and mosaic-tiled decoration. 

Detail of the facade of the Villino delle Fate designed by Florentine architect Gino Coppede and depicting Renaissance Florence including Brunelleschi's Duomo and the Palazzo delle Signoria.

The apartment buildings are decorated with Romanesque loggias, Liberty style ceramic tiles and Roman lion's heads and classical heads.

Looking up to the facade of the entrance building flanking the archway, it is covered in a riot of High Mannerist classical figures and heads carved in Travertine marble.

The street leading into the enclave of the Quartiere Coppede.

The enormous wrought-iron chandelier hanging below the archway at the entrance to the Quartiere Coppede.

Palazzo del Ragno built from Travertine marble, Roman bricks and wood and showing Coppede's combination of historical influences.

Garden terraces and apartments form part of the quarter's entrance archway and look out across Piazza Mincio

Palazzo Del Ragno designed and built between 1916-1924 and showing architect Gino Coppede's capacity to combine different materials such as brick, marble, stone and wood and historical motifs.

The great Travertine marble head above the doors leading into the Palazzo del Ragno

Travertine marble decorations carved to represent a winged griffin and stylised lion's head.

Detail of an elaborate corner balcony, the Grotesques carved in Travertine marble.  

10 Questions Column: American Artist Dan Witz

Artist Dan Witz in front of his 'Fighting Dogs' diptych on the eve of the opening of his new exhibition in Rome. Photograph by Andreas Romagnoli

American artist Dan Witz’s exhibition has just opened as part of the Public and Confidential project at Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome. Renowned as a pioneer of Street Art, the artist answers Jeanne-Marie Cilento’s ten questions and sits for a photo shoot with Andreas Romagnoli during the installation of his new show in the Italian capital

UNSETTLING images of doors and grates offering a view of  people suffering behind bars are evocative works that form part of Dan Witz's latest exhibition. These pieces are an extension of the Wailing Walls and Dark Doings projects begun in 2012.  His powerful and effective Prisoner and Free Pussy (riot) series reflects Witz's meditations on freedom of thought and the expression of the individual, created in collaboration with Amnesty International.

Witz's new series called Natural History continues to explore the metaphor of doors that suggest the intersection of public and private spheres in repressive societies. The Wunderkammern show also presents his celebrated Animal Mosh Pits paintings that depict  instinctual savagery plus his portraits of girls with cell phones where personal feelings move from the private into the public realm.

Based in New York, Dan Witz began his career in 1979 and was at the forefront of the emerging Street Art movement. His objective was to challenge traditional canons of art, choosing to focus on urban art, creating installations on the streets of cities around the world. At the beginning of his career, the artist concentrated on hyper realistic paintings which developed into street installations using digital images which he painted over. 

Witz has had extensive formal training including studying fine art and design and has won many scholarships and prizes. Along with recognition from American institiutions such as the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts,  the artist has had exhibitions in galleries worldwide. 

1. What are you currently working on?

Before I move on to the easel for the winter, I hope to do a few more NYC installations from the street series, Natural History, that I premiered in Rome.

2. What inspires you for your creative work now?

Usually something simple from my daily life. The natural history pieces come from all the time I spend at zoos and aquariums with my two year old son.

3. How did you choose  painting, street art and installations as your creative metier?

Street art was my post adolescent rebellion against what I feared would be a limited future as a gallery artist. At some point in art school, it dawned on me that being a self supporting artist pretty much meant making objects to sell to rich people. Don’t get me wrong: I don’t have anything against art collectors, or artists who work expressly in that system; I just thought I would like more variety and adventure out of my art life.

4. Can you describe the experience, person or training that has had the greatest impact on your artistic career?

Without a doubt, the grafiteed subway trains in New York City in the late 1970’s. And the Clash. There’s some kind of dissonant alchemy between those two experiences that cracked my suburban mind wide open. I’ve been working off this ever since.

5. What do you find the most challenging aspect of your work?

Definitely these trips to European cities to do street art. It’s always an incredibly demanding and physical process. Usually I get off the plane and hit the street headlong, completely jet lagged, lost, overwhelmed, fulminating within some sort of surreal urban fever dream, and with absolutely no idea how or where I’m going to get my work up. To succeed I need to let myself into the moment and push past my limitations ~ like an athlete. I love it.

6. Where do you like to draw or create your initial ideas for your artwork?

I keep my sketchbook on the couch in my studio where I rest between painting sessions. And for some reason whenever I get on an airplane to go on a street art trip, my mind loosens and gets weirdly free and some surprises can happen in my sketchbook.

7. Do you have a set schedule of working creatively everyday or is the process more fluid?

Depends on where I am. If I’m home, yes, I’m in the studio every week day from 9am-4pm. Even though my studio’s upstairs in my house, I kiss my wife and kid goodbye like I’m some sort of commuter dad. If I’m traveling my schedule is more improvised.

8. What part of painting and/or creating street art and installations gives you the most happiness? Do you find your creative process is more rational or instinctive?

I like the description of successful creative people as having a “mind on fire, and a heart of ice.” I naturally have the mind on fire ~ the inspiration-part going ~ but I’ve had to develop and nurture the rational, scientific mind of ice thing. This has been a life long struggle and unfortunately (or fortunately) the more I master my production process, the more complicated it seems to keep getting.  I’m not sure if I should admit this but I honestly don’t think I could do the large complicated pieces I’m doing these days if it wasn’t for my brilliant studio assistant, Mika Kitamori. I mean this as a compliment when I say she has a, “mind of ice”.

9. Is there a town or place in the world you find inspiring?

I’m really loving Rome now. So many sustained contradictions—one of the few places besides NYC I could see myself living and working.

10. In this digital age what do street art and installations give us as contemporary art?

Just because I’ve been at it for a long time, this doesn’t necessarily make me a reliable spokesperson for Street Art. But with that, I can say that I like this art form because it’s not for sale, no one can own it, so it can exist independently of the compromises of consumer capitalism. It’s free. And in my opinion, an art form that’s not dependent on the market place for its bona fides is a real game changer in today’s art world. If I wanted to sound fancy I’d call it a “paradigm shift”. But, that said, when people find out I've been doing street art for 35 years , almost universally the reaction is something like, “Wow, that’s cool—but how do you make money?”

Dan Witz: Public and Confidential runs from 28th September until November 17th 2013 at Wunderkammern Gallery at Via Gabrio Serbelloni 124 Rome, Italy. Open from Wednesday to Saturday 5-8pm: http://www.wunderkammern.net/danwitz/danwitz.htm

Click on photographs for full-screen slideshow

Dan Witz takes a break from installing his new exhibition at the Wunderkammern Gallery in Rome

 Dogs Fighting (diptych) 2004. Oil and digital media on canvas, 122x122cm (x2)

Pussy Riot. London Grate. From the Free Pussy riot series 2013. Fine art Inkjet print on paper. Edition of 36, signed and numbered. 56x43cm

Pigeon Tower (diptych) 2002. Oil and digital media on canvas, 4 pieces, 111.5x111.5x0.3cm (x4)

Detail of Sleeping King Baby-Bedlam 2012. Oil and digital media on PVC. Edition of three. 158.3x58x1.1cm

Sleeping King Baby-Bedlam 2012. Oil and digital media on PVC. Edition of three. 158.3x58x1.1cm

Mika Bust Grate 2012. Oil and digital media on PVC, wood frame. Edition of six. 43x49.5x2.3cm 

Monica N.O grate 2013. Oil and digital media on PVC, wood frame. 34.5x48x3cm

Ruth Gagged Horizontal Bars 2013. Oil and digital media on PVC, wood frame. Edition of three. 186.5x70.5x1.5cm 

Sarah F Yellow Window 2011. Oil and digital media on PVC, wood frame. Edition of three. 91x97.5x1cm

Melissa 2007. Oil and digital media on canvas. 43.5x64x4.5cm

Laura 2008. Oil and digital media on canvas. 41.5x56.5x4cm 

Necropolis Door: Two Prisoners 2013. Oil and digital media on PVC., wood frame. 123.5x228.5x2.5cm

Running Dogs 2007. Oil and digital media on canvas, 106.5x81.5xx6.5cm

Add Necropolis Door: Natasha 2013. Oil and digital media on PVC, wood frame. 115.5x221x3cm

London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2014: See You Next Season!

Electric blue eyes and a silken black sheath on the catwalk at Liz Black's show for London Fashion Week SS14. Photograph by Limor Helfgott

London Fashion Week has a reputation for edgy and avant-garde design and Spring Summer 2014 was no exception. Limor Helfgott looks back at five exciting days of high catwalk drama at Somerset House in the British capital

MORE than Milan or Paris fashion weeks, London welcomes a broad range of experimental designers from around the world and is known to be one of the best cities to train for a career in the fashion industry.

The stand-outs this season were the flying bags at the Anya Hindmarch show, J.WAnderson's twisted jumpers for a tomboy look and Peter Pilotto’s explosive digital prints with a finale of a halter dress covered in mirror work and knitted materials.

The strong presence of Asian designers this season encouraged an oriental theme: J.WAnderson's clever origami-like fold dresses and Holly Fulton's florals with a dash of the East. Designer L'Wren Scott clashed modern designs with feminine and chic kimono dresses as a homage to traditional Japanese style.

The highly structured, powerful collection of David Koma was free of pastel colors or floral motifs ~ there were no delicate feminine creatures. The Koma woman is indeed a warrior, bound in armour of leather and neoprene.

Russian designer David Koma's new collection for Spring Summer 2014 was inspired by the Japanese martial art of archery Kyudo. “The key features are graphics, color-blocking and asymmetry,” said Koma after the show.

The designer's pieces evoke a strong and powerful woman ~ a modern day warrior. Clear references to Kyudo were made with the holes punctured into every garment. The highly structured, collection was free of pastel colours or floral motifs ~ there were no delicate feminine creatures. The David Koma woman is indeed a warrior, bound in armour of leather and neoprene.

The colour ranges were from black, white and powder blue to bold blocks of cobalt. Shapes were strong: origami-folded jackets with sharp blue and black collisions, A-line skirts with asymmetrical hems, graphic elements, prints, stripes and zigzags across the body. Dresses were spliced at the waists. Leather was the dominant fabric of the collection and every piece gave us a glimpse of skin in an innovative way.

Inspired by the London Aquarium the colour palette at Jackie Lee was adventurous with cyclamen teamed with eye-popping pink pouts on the models. 

Korean Jackie Lee's collection was brighter and lighter than previous collections by the designer. Inspired by a journey through the London Aquarium, the colour palette was adventurous with cyclamen teamed with eye-popping pink pouts on the models. Other colours were baby-blue, navy and white.

Simplicity was the designer's key theme but there were layers of meaning. The designer's inspiration was jellyfish and she used shiny fabrics with the occasional gleam of PVC and scale-like textures to help achieve an under the sea vibe.

Shapes include cropped boxy jumpers, sharp tailoring with high necklines, dropped waistlines and oversize blazers. In this era of minimalism this collection gives you what it promises – wearable, clever, graceful and clean-lined clothes.

The inspired collection by Tata Naka had powerful contrasts of textures and colours with a luxurious finish that suggested the beauty and lyricism of the work of the Ballet Russes.

Showcased on the final day of London Fashion Week on a set in a blacked-out basement studio in Somerset house, the Tata Naka presentation was inspired by the work of Sergei Diaghilev and his famed Ballet Russes. Diaghilev turned classical ballet on its head with bold choreography and graphic sets and was the first to collaborate with contemporary fine artists like Picasso, Matisse and Chagall.

Designers Tamara and Natasha Surguladze from Georgia used their trademark shapes and prints in a combination of vibrant colours and pastel tones. Classic silhouettes with modern patterns, geometric cut-outs and zigzagged edges made up the look this season. The inspired collection had striking contrasts of textures and colours with a luxurious finish that suggested the beauty and lyricism of the work of the Ballet Russes.

While Sergei Diaghilev was a starting point for the silhouette of the Tata Naka collection it had a modern twist. Voluminous sleeves and skirts created new shapes in a palette of ice cream pink, pistachio, peach and lemon, contrasted with primary splashes of red, blue and yellow.  

This season Michael van der Ham's collection was all about the dress with bare shoulders or feminine spaghetti straps, sheer detailing and patchwork or a peplum details below the waist.

Showing his collection at the Café Royal on Regent Street, Dutch designer Michael van der Ham's clothes were chic and elegant. Models walked on to the catwalk with minimal makeup and hair pulled back presenting his signature textures and famous patchwork.

The designer won last year's Fashion Forward sponsorship. This season his collection was all about the dress with bare shoulders or feminine spaghetti straps, sheer detailing and peplum details below the waist.

The colour palette was mostly monochrome, with neon yellow paint splatters of peach, grey and green to add a bit of colour. Lace and silk were layered with a brilliant mixture of fabrics and prints covered in mesh covered holes, Swarovski crystal embroidery and jewel embellishments.

 Almost entirely monochrome, the collection by Erdem was enlivened by splashes of yellow and lavender, giving a Parisian feel to the show.

I just loved everything about the new Erdem collection, said to be a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge. Stunning feminine gowns were presented while a grand piano and cello accompanied the models on the runway creating a stylish ambiance. Almost entirely monochrome, the collection was enlivened by dashes of yellow and lavender, giving a Parisian feel to the collection. 

Designer Erdem Moralioglu from Canada used shimmering white satin silk, feathers, floral quilting and appliqué lace on boucle skirts and crisp white shirts which were teamed with sheer black organza, buttoned-up collars and embroidered bomber jackets. It was a tone down from last season's edgier collection for the designer. The mix of textures - sheer contrasted with heavier tweed ~ made this collection perfect with it's monochromatic palette.

Urban chic was the key motif at Eudon Choi with oversized coats, A-line skirts, beautifully draped asymmetric dresses in stripe and block colors along with Japanese-style kimonos and silk trousers.

Although Eudon Choi is known for precision tailoring and is a menswear graduate – it was all about the girls this season and there were very few masculine elements in the collection. It was all delicate and intensely feminine, inspired by the tragic story of Princess Deokhye who was forced into marrying a Japanese prince.

Urban chic was a motif with over sized coats, A-line skirts, beautifully draped asymmetric dresses in stripe and block colours along with Japanese-style kimonos, silk trousers and robe combinations tied with a cord but with low necklines to give it a modern touch. One of the outstanding pieces was a white strapless gown that was reminiscent of a chima or traditional Korean skirt.

The colour palette was delicate and included bright floral prints teamed with stripes in coral, white, magenta, navy and pink.

The innovative design duo of Latvian Fyodor Podgorny and Israeli Golan Frydman presented a chic, ultra feminine collection where colour was brilliant ~ from the sunniest yellow to pink and contrasting soft pastel hues of mint, baby blue and nude.

The Fyodor Golan SS14 collection Electric Children was inspired by bikers and joggers crossing Waterloo Bridge alongside the river. The innovative design duo of Latvian Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman from Israel presented a chic, ultra feminine collection where colour was brilliant ~ from the sunniest yellow to pink and contrasting soft pastel hues of mint, baby blue and nude.

The looks were completed with Tresor Paris beads in a range of muted tones both embellishing and structuring the shapes of the collection. The luxurious beads were sewn to the tops and dresses also adding texture along with feathers, snakeskin and sheer flowing fabrics.

For me, the standout was a bandeau top made of rings of yellow smiley faces, which added a funky edge to the show together with the soundtrack of Heroes playing by David Bowie.

Beading, feminine shift and tube dresses at Mary Katrantzou featured large inverted pleated layers, skater silhouettes covered in ruffles and feathers and mini cocktail dresses shaped like cupcakes.

Turning sports clothes into feminine and flirty fashion, this season Greece's Mary Katrantzou created bold colourful digital prints also on to shoes including brogues, trainers and slippers.

The collection was full of blown-up details from the collaboration between the designer and French embroidery house Maison Lesage. Beading, feminine shift and tube dresses featured large inverted pleated layers, skater silhouettes covered in ruffles and feathers and mini cocktail dresses shaped like cupcakes.

Models walked to the sounds of She's a Rainbow by the Rolling Stones. Katrantzou's prints in neon purple, fluorescent green, electric blue and acid yellow and pink ruled the catwalk and each  looked unique.

 Fashionistas pause in London on the way to see shows for LFW SS14

Bold colour combinations make this father and son combo stand out at the entrance to LFW at Somerset House.

Striking a pose for the waiting cameras outside London Fashion Week's headquarters at Somerset House

Taking the Shalwar Kameez into a new urban realm with opaque black spectacles and felt hat outside LFW 

Perspex heels and an umbrella lined with lace were the accessories for this fashionista battling London's bleak fashion week weather