Last fall Hurricane Sandy swept through New York with a vengeance, knocking down more than 8,000 trees city-wide, and over 300 in Brooklyn’s Olmsted-designed Prospect Park alone. But now, Brooklyn Botanic Garden has teamed up with tree house architect Roderick Wolgamott-Romero to give a hand full of these damaged trees a second chance at life.
The New York Daily News reported that Wolgamott-Romero plans to build a 200-square-foot tree house, which he has dubbed the “Sandy Remix,” out of 10 oak trees salvaged from the Botanic Garden grounds. Raised 5-feet off the ground, the tree house will be located in the southern area of the Garden.
Wolgamott-Romero said they have already built the brackets and foundation, and expect to be finished by April. When completed, the tree house will serve as a classroom for schoolchildren for a period of 18 months.
A number of celebrities have commissioned Wolgamott-Romero to build his sustainable tree houses including Sting, Julianne Moore, Darren Aronofsky, Val Kilmer, and Donna Karen.
