“Bonsai Treehouses” Exhibition

Summer 2026 marked another interesting and fun collaboration with the Museum of Architecture (MoA).

The “Bonsai Treehouses” Exhibition took place in central London throughout July and August and offered insight into the creative minds behind both prominent and emerging architecture practices, in the form of miniature treehouses. Displayed open-air in the tucked-away green of Oxford Square, we helped to turn the modest park into a temporary gallery open to curious passers by.

The brief for the architects was to design bespoke, tiny models tailored to the diverse array of individual bonsai tree species, as cultivated by bonsai expert Peter Warren. Each tree brought its own distinct character, inspiring equally unique and creative architectural responses.

U-Build Exhibition Structures

We supplied flat-packed, CNC-cut spruce sheets that were easily assembled into a collection of timber display plinths. The micro-architecture models were mounted on top of our demountable structures, allowing the exhibition infrastructure to be completely deconstructed and repurposed when it came to a close. The boxes were designed to suit our standard module grid, opening up endless possibilities for reuse at future MoA installations.

At U-Build, we like to challenge traditional perspectives on construction and the built environment. As the MoA noted, the exhibition “explores how creative imagination can be scaled down, adapted or reinterpreted when confronted with the constraints, aesthetics and philosophies of bonsai cultivation.” The project aligns with our belief in the necessity of evolving structures as contexts and surroundings inevitably change, as well as blending playful creativity with design and natural materials.

Browse our other Exhibition projects or find your ideal box on our Box Shop.