Tasked with building a treehouse in a garden without a tree, French studios Saperlipopette Les Architectes and Martial Marquet Architecture have created a wooden structure that instead perches on a wall (+ slideshow).

The client had promised his children a treehouse, but unfortunately the only tree overhanging his garden sits on the neighbouring property.
To help create a treehouse without a tree, he enlisted French studios Saperlipopette Les Architectes and Martial Marquet Architecture.

The architects chose to instead perch the structure on the wall along the edge of the client's garden, allowing it to sit among the leaves and maintain the feeling of being off the ground, like a real treehouse.

Built from pine, the structure is split in to four distinct sections, each with a different intended use. The first section ? named Arbre, meaning tree ? is the entrance to the rampart-like construction. A ladder is positioned beneath the canopy, giving occupants the impression of climbing as they ascend.

A short walkway then leads to Cabane, the house-like part of the construction, which is clad in local pinewood boards.
"The cabin is the core of the project, where the cladding has been gradiently spaced allowing light to get in, but preserving enough intimacy for the kids to play," architect Martial Marquet told Dezeen.

"We decided to have minimal intervention on the interior to let the children feel free to appropriate the space by themselves," he ...