Top 9 Architectural Wonders Built Around Trees

The Araucaria tree is an iconic symbol of the Parana state in southern Brazil. When a road was constructed in Pato Branco city, the tree was preserved. To this day, no one has collided with the tree while driving.

Fuji Kindergarten, located in Tachikawa, Japan, was constructed in a circular design around a Zelkova tree, reflecting historical layers. Children play on structures made of brick, steel, and wood in the school's garden. The tree, approximately 50 years old, was nearly uprooted during a storm. Despite losing vitality and almost dying, it remarkably revived beyond expectations. Before the school was built in 2007, the tree was a popular spot for children to climb and play. Now, the building's windows face the tree, allowing children inside to view it at all times. During breaks or while waiting for the bus, kids can play on platforms surrounding the tree trunk. While adults can only see two levels of the structure, children, due to their smaller size, can explore spaces inaccessible to adults.

When a client requested architect Aibek Almasov to design a peaceful retreat in the mountains of Kazakhstan, he decided to create a new style of treehouse. Instead of building the house on tree branches, his design enveloped an entire pine tree. The four-story circular structure is divided by glass to offer panoramic views of the surrounding forest. Privacy is minimal, but it hardly matters when your only neighbor is a squirrel. The tree's sprawling branches occupy much of the upper floors, so most of the living space is on the lower levels. The first floor includes a bathroom and kitchen, while a cozy bed is situated on the second floor. The house has yet to be constructed.

Figueira Rubaiyat in Sao Paulo is a restaurant constructed entirely around a massive 100-year-old fig tree. While Brazil is home to many large trees, finding one of this size in the heart of a city is rare. The restaurant incorporates about a quarter of the tree inside, with the remainder extending outdoors.

A century-old walnut tree serves as the centerpiece of a library in the French city of Bourg-la-Reine. Designed by Pascale Guédot, the building envelops the ancient tree with a reading room. On the ground floor, large glass panels seamlessly blend the interior spaces with the outdoor area at the back, where spiral structures encircle the walnut tree, creating a courtyard-like reading space. Wooden stairs and a stone bench invite visitors to linger a little longer.

Kayashima Station in Neyagawa, northeast of Osaka, is one of the most unusually designed train stations in Japan. Despite its elevated structure, the station features a massive tree, resembling a broccoli head, protruding through a rectangular hole in the station's roof. The Great Camphor Tree of Kayashima, belonging to the camphor family, is older than most recorded camphor trees, with local officials estimating its age to be at least 700 years. When Kayashima Station opened in 1910, the tree stood right beside it, providing passengers with much-needed shelter from both sun and rain. The tree remained in place for the next 60 years, but as Japan's population grew, overcrowding became a significant issue. Authorities decided to expand the station, and plans approved in 1972 included cutting down the camphor tree. However, these plans were abandoned, and Kayashima Station was built around the tree. By 1980, the station was completed, and the tree became a shrine-like feature, surrounded by a sacred fence and adorned with a Shimenawa rope, symbolizing the presence of a deity and protection from the tree's curse.

Josie Russell opened Sloppy Joe’s on Greene Street in Key West, FL, in the 1930s. In 1938, when rent increased by $1 per week, the bar relocated to a more prominent spot on Duvall Street. The building, once Hemingway’s watering hole, passed through several owners before being purchased by Captain Tony Tarracino, giving birth to Captain Tony’s Saloon. The structure has a long and eerie history dating back to the 1850s. Visitors often notice the tree around which the bar was built. Today, it stands as a fascinating natural feature at the building’s center, but in the 1800s, it served as the town’s hanging tree—where at least 75 people were executed for crimes.

An anonymous architect designed this modern home in Los Angeles with the goal of preserving as much of the natural environment as possible. One way the designers achieved this was by incorporating existing trees on the property into the house’s design. Perched on a hillside, the architect included a wraparound balcony to protect the native flora and fauna in the yard. In one of the bedrooms, a tree extends through the floor and ceiling, even piercing the roof.

Creating a home that harmonizes with its natural surroundings is already a challenge. But designing a house that truly integrates with nature—not just in color and texture but in a genuinely green way—is a remarkable achievement. The apartment complex in Brazil, designed by architect Alessandro Sartore, accomplishes this by allowing trees originally growing on the land to continue thriving inside and through the new structure. The result is a thoroughly modern design that is also uniquely personal and distinctive.