This amazing bird hut, designed by Studio North, is a treetop perch on wooden stilts along a forested hillside. Immersed in the tree canopy, the 100-square-foot hut accommodates two people, twelve varieties of birds, and various inquisitive critters that come by to visit. In addition to being an inviting place for people to nest, the whimsical facade features twelve birdhouses, each designed for different local birds living in the mountains of the Columbia Valley, British Columbia.
The materials, form, and orientation of the bird hut were designed to offer nesting opportunities for a wide variety of local birds. For instance, the pileated woodpecker, a larger bird, seeks a nesting space 15 to 25 feet above the ground, with a 4-inch entry hole and an 8x8x24-inch cavity. On the other hand, the warbler, a smaller bird, typically nests 9 feet above the ground with a 1 1/8-inch hole and a 4x4x6-inch cavity. Considering both the largest and smallest varieties of local birds, the hut sits 9 feet off the ground, with its peak at 20 feet above and birdhouses scattered in between. Mimicking a bird building its nest, the materials for the bird hut were scavenged from the immediate surroundings.
The hut is nestled in a cross-braced structure built of sturdy lodgepole pines foraged from a nearby forest recently ravaged by fire. The platform and cladding for the hut are made of planks reclaimed from an old cabin deck. The front facade is clad with western red cedar shingles cut with a custom rounded profile, the radius of which was determined by the size of the birdhouse opening and the width of each shingle.
To give a sense of being in the tree canopy, the roof of the bird hut uses clear 8mm polycarbonate panels. As a result, the space is passively heated by the sun, acting as a kind of greenhouse, and is passively ventilated by two circular windows that punctuate the facade and the entry.
A bridge connects the bird hut to the hillside, and a stone path leads down to a natural spring and campfire.
