A ramp provides access to this funky little treehouse — I love how the underside of the roof catches morning light

SunRay Kelley may be one of the most “mythical” of the natural builders out there. He’s the builder known for saying the forest is his “Super Natural Store”, and his building designs conjure up feelings of the fantastical, magical, funkadelic. I had the privilege of seeing one of his creations in the making at the recent 20th anniversary Natural Building Colloquium at the Black Range Lodge in Kingston, NM — a whimsical treehouse nestled in ponderosa pine trees, featuring some signature SunRay touches. Check out the photos of this wild little building ahead…

SunRay’s treehouse is tucked into a few ponderosa pine trees

SunRay-Style Treehouse Design

As far as I could tell, there was no specific plan for the treehouse until SunRay showed up to the Colloquium. There was a proposed site, but that was about it, I think. What came out of the event was this small treehouse, featuring a (roughly) conical roof and a pyramidal skylight in the center, with tree branches poking through the roof and beautiful thin pine boards tacked together in an overlapping fashion for the roof deck. Tufts of evergreen decorate the interior, as they are still part of the living trees. Pretty cool.

Under the beautiful roof with evergreen tufts here and there

The treehouse features some of SunRay’s classic use of trees in the whole — raw branches support the roof in about as close to their original form as you can get. The platform that is the floor is cut freehand.

Wild twisty branches are the frame for the roof deck

On one of the last days, SunRay and our friend Davin got the roof covered with EPDM to protect the building. I only caught glimpses of the process, and all evidence suggests that it was a grueling process… see how the branches poke through the EPDM? All of those penetrations had to be dealt with up in the air, maneuvering and cutting a giant piece of rubber to fit tightly.

Can you spot SunRay up there? Note too the wild branches poking through the rooftop

Here’s SunRay and Davin after successfully installing the EPDM roof liner and the equally tricky skylight. SunRay had more than one or two cuts on his bare feet after that one…

SunRay and Davin celebrate after finishing the roof

Last but not least, here’s a shot of looking upwards from inside the treehouse… lovely stuff, eh?

Live edge pine boards make up the roof deck structure