You could say Georgia architect Jim Barker was way ahead of his time. Back in 1969, he began making sketches of a home that looked like a tree with its roots in the earth. But it wasn’t until the 1980s that he and his wife Arletta began building atop Sawnee Mountain, north of Atlanta. Over the next decade, the tree-shaped home would take shape.
Barker and builder Tim Ferguson dug deep into the mountain to create a maze of underground rooms, supported by poured concrete and concrete block. Next, they built a steel-reinforced concrete "trunk" nearly 40-feet-high and 20-feet-wide. The second and third levels are circular and sit on platform of welded steel beams on top of the truck. The entire exterior is covered with stucco.
Inside, the first floor bedrooms and bath, which are underground, have a grotto-like feel with curved walls and arches. The second and third floors have free-flowing floor plans and a continuous wall of windows to take advantage of the 360-degree views of the mountains and the Atlanta skyline. A winding steel staircase and a futuristic lift connect the three levels. During the building process they used granite from the mountain as walls, flooring, counters and even furniture. The Georgia Trust for Public Lands calls the home "an architectural wonder built to last for generations." The trust will eventually inherit this example of nature-inspired architecture and open it to the public.
Guests Chris Deming
Project Manager, The Trust for Public Land
Atlanta Field Office
1447 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: 404-873-7306
Website:
www.tpl.org Also in this Episode
