Goodbye, brick and mortar. Hello, wood and jute!
As we try to imagine the future of sustainable architecture, an innovative structure in New Windsor, NY, composed of approximately 70 living willow trees offers a compelling example of what that could look like. Standing at 32 feet, Fab Tree Hab is an expansive open-air canopy with trees growing upward along cross-laminated timber scaffolding. The trees are bound by a natural fiber called jute to increase their strength as they grow. Throughout Fab Tree Hab are “pockets” that serve as micro-habitats in this larger ecosystem that serves as a terrestrial reef—a land structure similar to a coral reef that enables flora and fauna to pass through or establish homes.
This project is the creation of the nonprofit organization Terreform ONE, a team of architects, designers, and artists led by Gallatin Associate Professor Mitchell Joachim. Joachim began considering such a structure about 20 years ago following a prompt from Habitat for Humanity to submit innovative designs for suburban housing. Since its establishment in December 2023, it has housed diverse groups of animals—including bats, frogs, and turkeys—and has provided scholars and students with a space for research and observation.
This Earth Month, NYU News asked Joachim to tell us more about the principles behind Fab Tree Hab, which is expected to stand for 150-200 years, and the future of sustainable housing.
What sparked this endeavor, and how long did it take to build?
The Fab Tree Hab project, which was initiated at MIT and later became associated with Terreform ONE, was born out of an eco-vision to create truly sustainable and biotech based living spaces. The concept emerged from the desire to rethink traditional architecture and urban planning by integrating living ecosystems into a multi-species environment. The aim was to design homes that were not just in nature, but of nature, using living trees as the primary material to create a living, breathing structure that could coexist harmoniously with its surroundings.
The idea was to use ancient techniques like pleaching—creating a lattice with living and dead branches—intertwining, and weaving, combined with modern fabrication technologies to guide the growth of living trees into the structures of homes. The project started in 2002 and is now growing in a 10-acre lot next to Storm King Art Center in New York.
