Developer Bernhard Baldauf loves tree houses. The master carpenter lives in a house in Sulzberg, where he has his own carpentry business. At a wooded area near his paddock, Baldauf dreamed of building a tree house as his permanent residence. To make his dream a reality, he commissioned architect Georg Bechter to design it. He received building permission in 2018.

The position of the tree house was chosen so that, in case of a storm, it would be out of the way of falling trees. It was also designed to withstand wind gusts of up to 150 km/h. The compact building is supported by 13 sloping, slender supports made of weathering steel, which means, strictly speaking, that is not a tree house but a hybrid between a elevated hunting stand and a mini-apartment. The wooden cube-shaped structure has a 24m² footprint and features 48 m² of living space. Following in the footsteps of famous Austrian architect Adolf Loos, the various areas wind their way from one plateau to the next on staggered levels, each offering a new perspective and showcasing the location of the building. The house is surrounded by woodland to the east, south and west, where the atmosphere is shady and dense. To the north-west, a sitting window frames the expansive view over the meadows and the Swiss mountains. The shingle facade is stained with black pigmented oil.

Together with his two sons, Baldauf constructed the house in 3500 working hours. Lukas, the locksmith, made the supports. One first enters the cloakroom, which is also part of the bathroom. Five stairs lead up to the sleeping bunk, where only a glass window separates the visitor from the trees and one is woken by the sound of birds. Seven steps up is the kitchen-living room, which is a prime example of the level of detail involved in the planning: Here there is an opening in every cardinal direction, and each is different. The relatively small window above the kitchenette can be opened for ventilation. Meanwhile, at the front of the dining table, there is a 70 cm deep seating niche protruding from the tree house like a small bay window. The rooftop terrace is in keeping with the treetop concept of the house. It offers wonderful panoramic views all the way to the Swiss mountains. In this house made of wood, every square metre has a dual purpose.

Architecture: Georg Bechter Architecture, Hittisau