Prefabricated Shelters Offer a Jungle Eco-Retreat

By Olivia Chen
Inhabitat

Sit­ting among the canopy of a jun­gle for­est near Yelapa, Mex­ico, these V-Houses by Heinz Legler are quite pos­si­bly an eco-adventurer’s par­adise. The treehouse-like struc­tures are lofted 16 feet above the ground and open on all sides to offer panoramic views of the trop­i­cal sur­round­ings. Although the rooms mea­sure only 16 feet by 16 feet, a slanted ceil­ing and open walls make the tree­house seem larger — blur­ring the lines between indoors and out­doors. And to top off this eco-dream of a jun­gle retreat, the V-Houses were designed with mod­u­lar com­po­nents, made with sus­tain­able mate­ri­als, and have incor­po­rated solar pan­els, com­post­ing toi­lets, and a grey­wa­ter system.

The shel­ters are based on hooches in Puerto Rico and Ore­gon designed by Jo Scheer, but have a modern-ized aes­thetic (the orig­i­nal was made of bam­boo) with the use of steel, ply­wood, and red cor­ru­gated iron roofs. Based on a mod­u­lar design, the houses were pre­fab­ri­cated in Puerto Val­larta and then brought by boat to the site. Once on the site, con­struct­ing the houses required no mov­ing of soil or exca­vat­ing as the houses were designed to be lofted on V-shaped stands planted into the ground.

These shel­ters are cur­rently being used as tem­po­rary hous­ing for employ­ees that work at the Ver­ana resort, but the own­ers say that the treehouse-like shel­ters have been such a hit that they plan on build­ing more, but this time for guests — so get ready to pack your bags!

Via arch­daily and Been-Seen

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/08/28/prefabricated-shelters-offer-a-jungle-eco-retreat/