Hospitality Design - December 2024 - 112

Photos courtesy of ARTISTREE
back space back to nature with
will beilharz
CEO + Founder
Artistree
Blending design, conservation, and scalable innovation, Artistree
specializes in creating immersive experiences that honor the land
while pushing the boundaries of sustainable design. From master
planning to architectural design, CEO and founder Will Beilharz
prioritizes thoughtful development that caters to nature-loving
guests. Both a developer and operator, the company's signature
treehouses, for instance, contribute profits to reforestation
and other environmental preservation initiatives, while new
manufacturing partnerships are poised to expand their mission
globally. Here, Beilharz discusses his background and design
philosophy, and how the company integrates conservation into its
projects.
How did you get into design?
My background came through the general contracting and
construction space. I've been building things since I was 9 years
old, when my family moved to a ranch outside of Austin and started
homesteading. You build everything yourself and learn as you go.
That led into building homes for people. We started an eco-tourism
business in 2005 on our property in Spicewood, Texas-a canopy
tour that was the beginning of an industry in the continental U.S.
How did this lead to Artistree?
I got to see the adventure tourism industry blossom in the U.S. I
ended up traveling around helping set up about 25 of those sites
[which introduced me to] large-scale experiential design. I started
doing master planning for these projects to figure out how people
were going to traverse mountaintops or eco-resort reserve spaces.
I became interested in the intersection of humans and nature. That
led to the treehouses. We wanted to build shelters for people who
are deeply interwoven with nature. Now our clients want to position
nature as part of their amenity package-whether that's a creek
running through the property, a forest, or a beautiful wetland.
Tell us about the treehouses.
Artistree Home is the design studio. We have designers and
architects and draftspeople who work on these projects, including
myself, to come up with creative design solutions [for] custom
clients that have a unique site and may even have their trees
picked out. Our prefabricated line came out of a desire to create
something that was replicable, scalable, and cut costs, while also
reducing environmental impact.
How do the treehouses prioritize the environment?
When you're building in ecologically sensitive zones, the usual
construction schedule degrades the environment. A prefabricated
solution allows fewer days of construction and allows us to deploy
units into more remote areas. Our Spyglass treehouses are like a
looking glass into nature. You can point guests to whatever you
want them to look. This is important for hotel and higher-density
developments too, where you have many units side-by-side.
We [prioritize] sustainability and high-quality FSC wood
products, hemp wool insulation, and materials that add to carbon
capture through the building science. We have a fire-resistant
unit with a beautiful metal shingle product. We can customize the
color to fit into the environment. We're always trying to present
something that is architectural but also evokes a natural feeling. hd
112
The Juniper treehouse at Cypress Valley in Spicewood,
Texas, which is owned and operated by Artistree
A Spyglass treehouse at a proposed forest
ecology research center in California
The guestrooms of the Spyglass treehouse in Sonoma
County, California, complete with an outdoor tub
December 2024 hospitalitydesign.com
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Hospitality Design - December 2024
