Gabled wooden structures encasing glass-walled living spaces will distinguish a group of treehouses that Peter Pichler Architecture has designed for a forest in Kitzbühel, Austria.
Named Tree Suites, the structures are designed by Peter Pichler Architecture as part of a 7-star hotel that is being built in the small Alpine town.
The Italian studio's proposal is intended to immerse visitors in nature and in turn encourage them to relax and slow down.
"The connection between men and nature is a fundamental criterion in this project," explained the Italian architecture studio.
"It should activate and amplify human senses with the use of simple and local materials while slowing down and living a moment within the top of the trees. A spatial experience within nature."
The form of the Tree Suites is informed by vernacular timber architecture in Austria, which has been reinterpreted "in a contemporary way".
They will be built almost entirely from wood arranged as a diagrid frame – a structural system composed of beams that intersect in a diagonal pattern.
The structure will be wrapped by a decorative second layer of intersecting slats of wood that are designed to bring light into the living spaces while maintaining privacy.
During the day, this outer skin will filter dappled light into the living spaces and "create a playful effect of light and shadows", while at night it will make the treehouses glow like lanterns within the forest.
The Tree Suites living spaces's will differ in size, ranging from 60 to 80 square metres, and will each be accessed by their own glass elevator hidden inside the structure on which the rooms are elevated.
Inside, each of the suites will contain a bathroom and bedroom with glazed walls to provide guests with views out over the forest and neighbouring mountains, while the larger rooms will also contain a living room and a sauna.
The interiors of all the living spaces will be dominated by wooden finishes, complementing their exteriors while creating "a warm feeling within the spaces".
Tree Suite guests will also have access to public facilities in the main hotel, which will include a restaurant and spa.
Peter Pichler Architecture is a Milan architecture and design studio founded by Italian architect Peter Pichler.
Other recent projects by the practice include a proposal for a set of treehouses with sharply pointed roofs and blackened wood cladding in the Dolomites and a pair of holiday homes with mirrored facades.