We’ve been getting a bit of international attention recently: This article in La Repubblica came out quite a while ago but it took us a little time to track down the link. Apparently we were front and center in this Italian newspaper shortly after our New York Times article. If you have any Italian language skills – or if you just like looking at foreign languages … check the link to the article here.
We’ve also been featured in a Norwegian online publication: www.aftenposten.no. The article includes an interview with Roald about his process and history and some great information about driftless farm and the Whole Tree buildings we’ve constructed here. If you’re familiar with the language it should be very informative. If not … the pictures are very pretty.
An Italian home design website Lavorincasa.it also ran a piece on us in early December. They praise us for our ecosostenibilità. Check it out here.
December 30th, 2009
We were also noted on “Lloyd’s Blog” in the aftermath of the New York Times. It may sound a little hokey but Lloyd Kahn was the shelter editor of the Whole Earth Catalogue and is the founding editor-in-chief of Shelter Publications, Inc.
He’s got some serious green cred, you might say and he likes our stuff. He compares us to Sunray Kelley and some of the other builders featured in his publishing houses Builders of the Pacific Coast. Some of them are stunning – check out a slideshow of images here. Isn’t it nice to belong to a mutual admiration society?
November 20th, 2009
Web Ecoist, a green items blog, featured Whole Trees recently. According to them:
“The buildings are beautiful in a raw and natural way because Whole Trees believes in using whole, young-growth trees in their projects. The idea is to get back to the roots of construction, to use a whole material rather than an over-processed one, and to let the inherent beauty of nature shine through in each and every project.”
Thanks a lot Web Ecoist!
Click here for a link to the post.
November 12th, 2009
Whole Trees was featured on Inhabitat.com this month in response to our New York Times article. We’re thrilled with the publicity although we beg to differ with them that whole trees “is obviously not feasible for everyone,” We think that whole trees can be used anywhere and everywhere … and should be. We are pleased that they think “it is certainly a brilliantly forward-thinking solution for the small farming community in Wisconsin where Whole Trees is based. In our opinion, their use of local labor and local, renewable, and sustainably-managed materials offers a prescient vision of a vibrant, green future.” Check their link here.
November 11th, 2009
November 6th 2009
WHOLE TREES IS IN THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!!!!
“ROALD GUNDERSEN, an architect who may revolutionize the building industry, shinnied up a slender white ash near his house here on a recent afternoon, hoisting himself higher and higher until the limber trunk began to bend slowly toward the forest floor.
“Look at Papa!” his life and business partner, Amelia Baxter, 31, called to their 3-year-old daughter, Estella, who was crouching in the leaves, reaching for a mushroom. Their son, Cameron, 9 months, was nestled in a sling across Ms. Baxter’s chest.”
Read it all here – we were featured on the front of the Home Section. Also check out the photo slide show which shows Paul Kelley’s beautiful images of Driftless Farm here.
November 7th, 2009
July 2009
Driftless farm picked up some publicity in the Coop Shopper this month. This publication, a joint venture of several area food coops featured the new Driftless farm CSF or community supported forest.
“It started with word play and an understanding that a sustainable forest is more than just its trees. Community Supported Forest (CSF) is a model of membership in a natural resource, much like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), where members reap the abundance of a sustainably managed forest.
“This year, Driftless Farm CSA planted this seed of an idea and is growing what it thinks is the first Community supported Forest on its 140 acres in Stoddard, WI. The project facilitates a sustainable relationship between members and a rural forest resource often overlooked.
“Wisconsin has 13 million acres of forest land. Most of this land is a tax burden to its owners and a liability to the state, which subsidizes its maintenance. Conventionally, forests are economically useless until old growth matures and is milled for lumber or its “weed trees” are sold as firewood or pulp wood. Forest owners have little economic incentive
to keep their forests, since more monetary value is promised by clearing and grazing the land or selling it for development. And yet, our global climate crisis begs us to find more value in our forests, to save them, replant them, honor them.”
For a link to the article click here.
August 4th, 2009
May 24, 2009
The La Crosse Tribune features Driftless Farms Community Supported Forest (CSF). Roald Gundersen and Amelia Baxter have adapted the popular community supported agriculture model to allow community members to get involved with taking care of their local forests.
“For a $550 annual contribution, members get access to the 140-acre valley about 12 miles south of La Crosse. They can camp, hunt and garden on the land. They can forage for mushrooms, garlic mustard and wild ginger. They can get firewood, sustainably milled lumber, landscaping stone or fresh spring water.
“In addition, members can attend workshops on beermaking, beekeeping, natural building and other topics.”
The CSF is always looking for new members. For more information or to come out and visit the forest, contact Derek Mayhew at derekmayhew@wholetrees.com.
Hubbuch, Chris. 2009. “Community supported forest offers way to buy shares in woodlands” The La Crosse Tribune. May 24 . For a link to the article click here.
August 4th, 2009
Welcome to our new website. We’ll continue to update this site with new media references to Whole Trees as they appear. In the mean time, scroll down to see articles from years past in Natural Home Magazine, the Tapestry Magazine, The Wisconsin State Journal and the La Crosse Tribune dating all the way back to 1994.
July 14th, 2009
May 2009
Natural Home Magazine selects a Whole Trees project, The Chrysalis House, as an honorable mention in their Best of the Decade context to celebrate their 10 year anniversary. As they put it, “Over the past 10 ears, Natural Home has featured homes made of straw bale, rammed earth and clay – from tiny, handmade cottages to exquisite expensive mansions. we’ve introduced readers to new building methods, such as structural insulated panels and innovations including geothermal heating and cooling systems. These are just a few of our favorite houses and gardens – and yours.”
2009. “ Honorable Mentions: Deep Roots, Strong Branches November/December 2007” Natural Home. May/Jun, 59. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
April, 2009
Timber Homes Illustrated just published an interview with Roald, here’s an exerpt:
“Timber Homes Illustrated: Tell us how you got started with this focus.
“Roald Gundersen: I grew up in the forests of Wisconsin, which I think instilled in me a passion for forestry and building with wood. As a child, I must have built 20 forts using the forest materials near our home. After my architectural degree and eight years of architectural office work, I came back to my roots in Wisconsin and built a small passive solar home, greenhouse and garden. I used forest thinning and straw bales for wall and roof insulation, local stone, sand and clay for finishes. I was looking to redefine my relationships with the things I depended upon in a more sustainable fashion.”
Lobred, Peter. 2009. “Back to Nature: Wisconsin Bred Designer finds Inspiration and Industry in the Forest.” Timber Homes Illustrated. April, 24-29. For a link to the article click here or here.
July 13th, 2009
November/December, 2007
Natural Home Magazine features the Chrysalis House.
“When selecting trees from their southwest Wisconsin property to use in the construction of their new home, farmers Marcia Halligan and Steven Adams passed over the stately oaks and the sturdy maples, choosing instead the weak and diseased trees. They didn’t need the forest’s strongest old-growth trees for their house, built using architect Roald Gundersen’s revolutionary Whole Tree Architecture. His technique uses whole, unmilled, “Charlie Brown” trees—in this case, weedy box elders, slender ironwoods, invasive black locusts, wind-bent hickory and diseased elms—to create sheltering, graceful homes while preserving mature forests around them.”
Tobais, Lori. 2007. “Deep Roots, Strong Branches” Natural Home. Nov/Dec, 42-52. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
In conjunction with their article, “Deep Roots, Strong Branches,” Natural Home published this short video about their visit to the house. Check out footage of the interior of Chrysalis House and hear Editor In Chief, Robyn Griggs-Lawrence talk about her impressions of Whole Tree design.
Click here.
July 13th, 2009
September 28, 2008
The La Crosse Tribune profiles Roald Gundersen and Amelia Baxter and details their thoughts on Whole Tree construction: ‘“We as a little business in the middle of the woods in Wisconsin have found that there’s this huge, gaping lack of understanding of what trees can do for us structurally in buildings,” Gundersen, 48, said. “Buildings have to not only stand up to gravity, but also winds and earthquakes.’ ‘trees requires an understanding that our society can no longer expect the speed and convenience of very ungreen, ecologically unsound construction,” Baxter said. “I’m not certain one can do a viable business and stay in line with one’s true environmental beliefs, but I hope so.”’
Orso, Joe. 2008. “Construction: Niche Artist Uses Whole Trees .” La Crosse Tribune. Sunday September 28, A-5 and A-6. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
February 10th, 2008
The La Crosse Tribune profiles Roald Gundersen and focuses on innovations in green design in the La Crosse area. Sustainable building practices are on the rise in this transitional period but soon they will go mainstream and be absorbed into the construction culture as if they were never absent.
Orso, Joe. 2008. “A Greener Future: Builders see demand for homes based on sustainability.” La Crosse Tribune. Sunday February 10, A-1 and A-6. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
August 2007
The Radish Magazine (Healthy Living from the Ground Up), features Roald Gundersen and explains why Whole Tree buildings, are safer, stronger, cheaper and better for the environment:
“When you hear Roald Gundersen use the words “local,” “sustainable,” “better for us and for the environment,” you probably assume that he is talking about food. But he’s not — he’s talking about houses.
“Gundersen is a “whole tree architect,” which is exactly what it sounds like. His designs incorporate the whole tree: round timbers, curves and “what a tree does so well:” branches.”
Janicek, Elizabeth. 2007. “Holistic Building: architect uses local trees for houses – curves and all.” Radish. August, 14-15. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
Winter 2007
Coulee Region Men profiles Roald Gundersen:
“Apollo 11 and whole trees. These two things are inextricably linked for Roald Gundersen. It was 1969 when we first encountered an outside view of our fragile planet, and when a nineyear- old boy first marveled at pictures of this lonely jewel suspended in space. “Like millions of people,” says Gundersen, “I watched the moon shot on TV. It had a profound effect. We began to see ourselves as earthlings.”
“That boy grew up on the bluffs, exploring the woods on his grandparents’ land in Ebner Coulee,scrambling over sandstone outcrops, poking around for mushrooms at the trunks of fallen trees, and learning from
his father to distinguish an aspen from a birch. “We climbed all over the bluffs, building forts. They were our Playstations and Gamecubes,” Gundersen recalls.”
Reber, Scott. 2007. “Roald Gundersen – Eco-architect.” Coulee Region Men. Winter, 8-10. For a link to the article click here or here.
scrambling over sandstone outcrops,
poking around for mushrooms at the
trunks of fallen trees, and learning from
his father to distinguish an aspen from
a birch. “We climbed all over the bluffs,
building forts. They were our Playstations
and Gamecubes,” Gundersen recalls.
Eco-vision
Most of us slapped together a
treehouse in our days of make-believe,
but few of us went on to tackle a quarter
billion dollar space-age Biosphere 2 in
Arizona, an eco-lodge in Costa Rica, and
some 50 passive solar greenhouses in the
Upper Midwest. Like the organic architect
Frank Lloyd Wright, who drew inspiration
from the farms, fields and forests near
Spring Green, Wisc., Gundersen now
expresses the natural beauty he learned
to love in the bluffs around La Crosse. In
fact, he has been called an “eco-architect,”
for under-girding his wide range of
designs is a complex natural philosophy:
a concern for future generations, for
biodiversity, for renewable resources, for
physical and spiritual health. In short, he
embraces a purpose broader than merely
Photo by Megan McCluskey, Atypik Studio
Photo by Megan McCluskey, Atypik Studio
Buildings crafted of whole trees blend well
with the Coulee Region landscape, as this
photo proves.
The structural elements of whole trees are
50 percent stronger than those of machined
lumber, says Architect Roald Gundersen.
Its strength-to-weight ratio is similar to steel
and it’s a product that cleans the environment
and provides habitat while being produced.
by Scott Reber
Apollo 11 and whole trees. These
two things are inextricably linked for
Roald Gundersen. It was 1969 when
we first encountered an outside view
of our fragile planet, and when a nineyear-
old boy first marveled at pictures
of this lonely jewel suspended in
space. “Like millions of people,” says
Gundersen, “I watched the moon shot
on TV. It had a profound effect. We
began to see ourselves as earthlings.”
That boy grew up on the
bluffs, exploring the woods on his
grandparents’ land in Ebner Coulee,
July 13th, 2009
April 30th, 2006
The La Crosse Tribune Home Section features Roald Gundersen’s latest design, the Chrysalis House. The new home of Marcia Halligan and Steve Adams, the Chrysalis houses is a showpiece of Whole Tree design and construction. Each structural column and beam is made from a branching tree harvested from the couple’s own property and the result is a sustainable haven that will last for generations and inspire the region.
Parlin, Geri. 2006. “Tree House becomes Reality.” La Crosse Tribune. Sunday April 30, E-1, E-3, E-6-7. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
April, 2003
Roald Gundersen writes for Tapestry Magazine to highlight the amazing properties of wood. Tree cellulose is amazingly strong and available all around us. If we adjust the way we think about using wood and make greater use of small local trees wherever construction is needed we can stop clearing the rainforest and reap a harvest of healthier forests both near and far.
“Forest farming, (different from mono-culture tree farming) could become a new sustainable and lucrative occupation capable of creating millions of new jobs. Forestry and logging operations employed 83,800 people in 2001. Forest farming could increase this employment by nearly a hundred times. If an average forest farmer managed 100 acres, over 7 million jobs could theoretically be created in the US, generating $350 billion from pole sales alone each year.”
Gundersen, Roald. 2003. “Building a New Relationship with Forests.” The Tapestry. April, 33-35. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
Fall 1997
Roald Gundersen writes for The Last Straw about his experiences working on Biosphere 2 and how we need to turn that interest in sustainable design into a local movement in places like Wisconsin.
“Solar greenhouses and agrarian architecture are natural points of departure as buildings welcoming life other than human. By inviting life, particularly plants and soil bacteria, into our buildings, we can clean and recycle our air, water, and biological wastes onsite while producing food, solar heat and light. Extrapolate this integration of ecology with architecture from rural, to suburban, and even urban buildings, and—I believe—we could see the dominant predacious or parasitic forms of human ecology evolve into more photosynthetic and ecologically diverse cultures.
“My point of departure is at America’s grass roots: the family farm, a culture still alive and growing in Wisconsin. I see the solar greenhouse as the “new barn” at the heart of diverse organic farms growing crops year round. I see “sustainable” architecture in the old farm buildings throughout Wisconsin, built from locally-abundant materials. This is the work I’m building on. As with these buildings, my palette is locally-abundant rocks, dirt, sand, water and fast growing plants, primarily grasses and trees: hence poplar-pole frames and strawbale construction…”
Gundersen, Roald. 1997. “Learning with the Land.” The Last Straw. Fall, 23-25. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
February 13th, 1997
The Wisconsin State Journal features Roald Gundersen’s greenhouses. Showing examples from several Gundersen-constructed greenhouses, Rick Barrett explains how properly angled glass and thorough north side insulation can support strawberries in feburary and increased profits for Wisconsin growers all year round.
Barrett, Rick. 1997. “Southern Exposure.” Wisconsin State Journal. Thursday, February 13, 1F-2F. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
February 17th, 1997
The La Crosse Tribune features Cold Climate Greenhouses, which allow for year round growing without supplemental heat. Roald Gundersen explains how using glass angled to catch winter light and enough insulation, it is possible to support agriculture through a Wisconsin Winter. He has been constructing passive solar greenhouses since his return to Wisconsin in 1994.
Barrett, Rick. 1997. “Greenhouse Effect: Profit – Cold Climate Greenhouses Can Grow Produce All Winter Long.” La Crosse Tribune. Monday, February 17, 1B. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
October 16th, 1995
The La Crosse Tribune profiles Roald Gundersen and highlights the sustainable features of Gundersen’s own home.
Parlin, Geri. 1995. “Building a Healthy Habitat.” La Crosse Tribune. Monday October 16, C1. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
March 9th, 1994
The La Crosse Tribune covers the return of native son, Roald Gundersen, to Wisconsin. After spending time working in Arizona on the Biosphere 2 project, Gundersen came back to family land to build a straw bale A-Frame with his own two hands.
Rindfleisch, Terry. 1994. “Building their Green Home” La Crosse Tribune. Wednesday March 9, B1. For a link to the article click here.
July 13th, 2009
