Tree Housing: an innovative approach towards solving the housing problem of India

Abstract

With the continuous migration of people from rural to urban areas for attaining better employment, education, medical and recreational opportunities  and also under illusive temptation to extravagancy, the urban areas of the country are getting over densify, leading to the marathon housing demand, especially in the low income segment.  The Government of the day is trying its best to solve this problem with a target of providing a liveable house to one and all by the year 2022. However, due to severe crunch of urban land, governmental commitment appears extremely difficult, with present housing typology being followed in the country. To overcome the issue of land crunch, an innovative concept is  being put forward here which proposes erection of 2 roomed light weighted prefab ferrocement dwelling units on a tree like structure with units ‘hanging’ on the tree branches. These houses will have all the necessary services like water, electricity, sanitation. For minimising dependence on grid power, it is proposed to install an ‘aero generator’ atop the ‘tree’ along with solar panels with possible rotation about its vertical axis to capture the maximum possible solar influx.

These ‘tree houses’ will have a clear headway of about 3.60m from the ground, leaving the ground free for traffic movement and for undertaking all sorts of outdoor activities including farming.