Free Spirit Spheres is what they are called, and a unique form of compact accommodation is what they provide.
Tom Chudleigh of Irrington, British Columbia, has designed a spherical dwelling which leaves quite literally, no ecological foot print on its site, save the path that you create to get to it through the forest.

Spheres are designed to be suspended amongst trees within a forest, between buildings, rock faces or any other location one may fancy.

 

A suspended sphere is typically tethered between 3 mature trees with 3 near vertical ropes. The weight of the sphere is distributed evenly between them resulting in a ‘stable hang'.
Spheres are accessed by a spiral stairway and short suspension bridges that are also hung from and tied between trees. Where ropes pass around them, trees are protected and once dismantled there is almost no trace the spheres were ever there.

 

Externally the spherical shape is well adapted to forest life as its spherical form distributes any impact stress throughout its skin, whilst resisting puncture or cracking.

Spheres range from 2.8m to 3.2m in diameter and are made of cedar or Sitka spruce. Two perpendicular laminations of thin wooden strips glued together make up the shell. The shell is then sanded and covered with 2 layers of woven fiberglass set in epoxy. The grain and texture is allowed to shine through whilst the fiberglass gives overall structural rigidity and strength. Finished weight of a sphere is approximately 500kg, depending on interior fit out. Fiberglass versions are now in production resulting in reduced build time and reduced final weight.

Future plans for the sphere concept is to create a washroom/shower/sauna sphere, complete with its own effluent treatment system.
Tom's goal is to produce 10-15 of the spheres and hang them in a large area of old growth forest to act as a retreat destination for groups of interested people.