The Original Architect
Design International's The Original Architect on Show at London's Bonsai Treehouses Exhibition
This summer, Design International is taking part in Bonsai Treehouses, a new exhibition by the Museum of Architecture that invites some of the UK's leading architecture practices to design miniature treehouses for bonsai trees.
Running from 4 July to 31 August 2026 in Connaught Village, London, the outdoor exhibition brings together more than 25 architectural studios, each responding to the same brief in a completely different way. Working at the scale of a bonsai means thinking differently about architecture, where every branch, curve and millimetre influences the final design.
For the exhibition, Design International created “The Original Architect”, a project that puts the bonsai tree at the centre of the design process.
The starting point was a 40-year-old Hawthorn bonsai, whose trunk was captured using photogrammetry to create a highly detailed digital model.
From that scan, five miniature tree house shapes were developed and 3D printed in wood-filled PLA, each fitting precisely to a section of the bark. The back of every dwelling carries the texture of the trunk itself, a reminder of where it came from. The result is a growing connected community that could only ever belong to this single tree, contoured by decades of growth, grain, and time. Architecture inspired by, and inseparable from, the living form that made it.
“The Original Architect” explores a simple idea: what happens when nature becomes the designer?
Instead of imposing a building onto the landscape, the project lets the character of the tree determine the architecture. Digital technology made it possible to capture every detail of the trunk, but the design is rooted in something much older—the slow growth of the bonsai itself.
The result is a small-scale installation that reflects Design International's wider approach to design: observing carefully, responding to context and creating places that grow from their surroundings.
About Bonsai Treehouses
Organised by the Museum of Architecture in partnership with Paolo Cocco, Bonsai Treehouses celebrates the creativity that can emerge when architects work at an entirely different scale.
The exhibition features more than 25 original treehouse designs from leading UK practices, alongside a display of exceptional bonsai trees curated by Peter Warren, founder of Saruyama Bonsai and one of the UK's leading bonsai specialists.
Visitors can explore the exhibition throughout the summer at Oxford Square Gardens, Connaught Village, London.