Who needs a backyard tree-fort when you can build an entire house from un-lumbered whole trees?

According to research by the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison [Wisconsin], run by the USDA, a whole, unmilled tree can support 50 percent more weight than the largest piece of lumber milled from the same tree. So [architect Roald] Gundersen uses small-diameter trees as rafters and framing in his airy structures, and big trees felled by wind, disease or insects as powerful columns and curving beams.

Wood is still wood, but you’re trading the two-by-four for arboreal decor.