Photo Credit: Architizer

Instead of working against nature, chopping down trees and putting up structures on bare land, there are more than a few architects who refused to cut down trees and were able to create rather ingenious buildings like these by incorporating the trees as part of them.

Pictured above, Archi-Union in Shanghai designed the “Tea House,” located in the backyard of the firm’s J-office, it’s constructed from the salvaged parts of the original warehouse’s collapsed roof. The space was severely restricted for a number of reasons, including a mature tree. Instead of taking it out, a small triangular balcony was extended around it.

Casa Vogue

Photo Credit: casavogue.globo.com

A tree called “Bethany” is the centerpiece of this home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It passes through a ten-foot hole in the floor slab and up through the ceiling of the living room. Architect Alessandro Sartore also accommodates a second tree in the garage, keeping as much of the original landscape intact as possible and bringing the natural landscape indoors.

Urban Tree House

Photo Credit: weburbanist.com

German firm Baumraum is responsible for many of the world’s coolest modern treehouses. The Urban Treehouse preserves the trees on a nearly 7,000-square-foot privately owned wooded property within the city limits, integrating nature and architecture.

Kook Restaurant

Photo Credit: noses.it

Based in Rome, Mohamed Keilani and Luca Gasparini, the founders of the young Noses Architects created Kook restaurant around its centerpiece, an olive tree, a symbol of Mediterranean tradition, placed in a glass cage, adding warm wood to the cold concrete.

Cylindrical Glass House Built Around a Tree

Photo Credit: amascow.com

This modern tree house sits among a forest of fir trees and was designed by A. Mascow Architects out of Kazakhstan.