Everyone as a child dreamt of having a tree house . Ken Shuttleworth , who founded Make Architects in 2004 , has taken this dream into adulthood . His practice , with around 100 employees and offices in London , Edinburgh and Birmingham , has won a competition for a visitors ’ centre set by the organisation that manages Sherwood Park in the county of Nottingham . Their scheme proposes a building set on top of an enormous oak tree , like the one that the legendary Robin Hood inhabited . At the top of a 20 - metre - high tree trunk , an intricate tangle of branches , the fruit of Arup ’ s engineering calculations , holds up the building which contains exhibition spaces , shops , a cafe , a restaurant and a spectacular viewing platform . In line with the studio ’ s vocation to minimise environmental impact and produce clean energy , the centre has been designed to eliminate carbon emissions and be self - sufficient in terms of energy thanks to wind turbines , biomass heating systems and systems for collecting rainwater and recycling waste . The project has been short - listed for 50 million pounds of Lottery funding that will be given to the best design for a project that restores and makes the most of national architectural and environmental heritage . Elena Sommariva http : / / www . makearchitects . com