While most tree houses have a trunk running vertically, this structure floats above the tree, suggesting the delicate tension between nature and the built environment. Serving as an inhabitable sculpture – a refuge, a gallery and a guest cottage – it's perched atop a hill and overlooks canyon vistas, downtown Los Angeles and the Getty Center.

Rockefeller Partners Architects spent about eight months on the design. “It was a complex little puzzle,” said Chris Kempel, the project’s architect. “It was like taking a box and poking it with chopsticks,” he said about five slightly canted steel columns that pierce its cedar exterior. “We had a bunch of fun with it.”

Check out the slideshow to see more images of the project.

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An Atypical Tree House