Subverting the notion of the tree house as a place of solitude, these stacked clusters of cabins at Xiaoshan Xianghu Resort in China stress social interaction above all else. The architects of WH Studio envisioned these new guest quarters as a series of family nests staggered around naked tree trunks, set up to interplay with both each other and their natural surroundings.

Contrary to appearances, the architects didn?t kill any living trees or strip them of their leaves for this project. They instead created faux dead trees to serve as a decorative framework for each cluster, piercing through layers of elevated terraces and the rooftops of the cabins themselves. Each individual cabin faces a different direction, offering unique views of the vegetated mountains around them. Located within the hotel district of Senbo Resort Hangzhou, these ?nest residences? are envisioned as ?a group of cabins landing on the branches,? almost as if they were living creatures themselves. The architects wanted to avoid over-realism by adding fake leaves to the trunks, deciding instead to mimic the way some animals choose to nest in dead trees. Since the clusters are nestled within the forest, however, they maintain a relatively convincing appearance.

The WH Studio team explains that ?the design of stacking abstract volumes of residential prototype has precedents in Europe and Japan, but most are more inclined to geometrical manipulation and often limited to the internal experience. Based on...