Tag Archives: hotel

These Swedish forest hotel suites are wooden tiny cabins raised on steel stilts

Posted on by

Swedish architecture studio Wingårdhs designed a collection of five quaint suites for the Trakt Forest Hotel in Småland. Supported by five metal stilts, the suites allow the visitors to feel as if they’re chilling amongst the tree canopy! Designed to “put nature in focus”, the cabins are accompanied by a restaurant and sauna in the complex, and they’re all connected via narrow woodland paths.

Designer: Wingårdhs

“We wanted to keep the ground as untouched as possible and dig as little as possible, to make sure that the tree root systems – and everything else living in the area – would stay unharmed,” said Gert Wingårdh, partner at Wingårdhs. While building the cabins, the studio wanted to create minimal disturbance to the surrounding landscape, and hence they positioned the suites on steel columns placed on concrete plinths. The cabins were constructed using locally-grown wood.

The wooden cabins have been placed in a surreal circular arrangement, with a long ramp providing access to each one. The ramp directly leads to the living area within each cabin, which then widens to focus on a massive window that provides stunning views of the forest. The other end of the cabin features a bathroom, and a storage area, while the bedrooms are positioned more privately, and amped with a wood panel finishing colored in a dark shade of green.

An impressive skylight has been placed above the bed, which provides views of the tree canopy above, while a corner window provides further views of the surrounding forest .” All openings are placed to maximize the intake of nature. The one over the bed is key to make you feel the soothing sensation of watching tall pine trees sway in the wind. That, together with an intimate and frugal inside decor in chlorophyll green, strengthens the experience of being invisible in the middle of a deep Swedish forest,” said the studio. The exterior of the cabin is marked by vertical long planks of roughly-cut pine, which creates an intriguing connection with the trunks of the surrounding trees.

The post These Swedish forest hotel suites are wooden tiny cabins raised on steel stilts first appeared on Yanko Design.

This circular screen could be the future of hotel and restaurant concierge

Posted on by

The past two years really tested the systems we had in place, especially when it came to face-to-face interactions. Work that bosses said couldn’t be done at home was successfully accomplished at home, and transactions that used to be done on-site started to be handled online. There was also a trend in reducing the need for close contact to avoid the risks of transmitting airborne diseases, some of which may have proved to be more efficient after all. Those included processes like checking into hotels and restaurants, activities that could probably be done more efficiently with an automated system like this futuristic-looking screen that could be how the likes of Airbnb will do business someday.

Designer: Ivan Zhurba

Many futurists and visionaries paint the picture of a world filled with screens, most of them touch-enabled, that put almost everything that we need under our fingertips, figuratively and literally. Most of these seem to revolve around personal matters, like checking social media, working at the office, and similar. Of course, in such a future, even transactions like ordering food inside restaurants could be screen-centric, something that some venues are already adopting little by little today.

This concept puts that same screen-based interaction in the hospitality business, particularly as part of the hotel concierge. The idea is for guests to check themselves in using an easy-to-use interface on a large circular screen. The machine is quite stylish and would look at home in high-class hotels. A rod lamp “goes through” the display at an angle, providing not only illumination but also an interesting visual as well. It would use face recognition to verify the identity of guests and dispense access cards from a cylinder hanging from the side of the display.

This kind of concierge would probably be more applicable to services like Airbnb rather than large hotel chains with very precise systems and processes in place. Smaller businesses might not have enough resources and manpower to offer the same kind of experience that big hotels can, so such a machine could save them money over time. It also reduces the risks involved in having to meet people, providing some sense of security and privacy that is absent from home rental services.

At the same time, however, this kind of concierge could be seen as impersonal and cold, which is almost antithetical to what “hospitality” means. We’re definitely far from being able to rely on such technology completely, anyway, considering the current state of AI and face recognition. There’s definitely plenty of room for improvement, not to mention ways to keep that personal human touch even when you’re just talking to a screen.

The post This circular screen could be the future of hotel and restaurant concierge first appeared on Yanko Design.

This gravity-defying wellness center in the Dolomites features a group of inverted micro-huts

Posted on by

Network of Architecture (NOA) has created a mindblowing extension of its Hotel Hubertus in South Tyrol. Inspired by reflections in water, the extension is a cantilevered wellness center that seems to defy gravity! Called Hub of Huts, or Heaven and Hell (popularly), the astounding structure is supported by massive tree-like columns and is highlighted by its mirrored design.

Designer: Network of Architecture

NOA built the Italian hotel in 2016, and the new extension is placed close to its glass-bottomed pool. It is raised 15 meters above the ground and projects out of the main building of the hotel. The Hub of Huts is quite literally characterized by a collection of tiny ‘huts’, and their inverted counterparts – creating a cluster of extremely intriguing mini structures. These mini huts were built to mimic “the architecture of a mountain village” reflected on water!

“The inspiration came from the element of water,”  said NOA Founder Lukas Rungger. “We thought about the possible activities such as standing, sitting, swimming, floating horizontally, diving upside down. Each of these positions has a different horizon, and from this interplay of perspectives, the idea of the project came to life,” he continued.

It aims to provide a spa experience that is inspired by its nickname ‘Heaven and Hell’. The upper level or the ‘Heaven’ section features two pools,  panoramic showers, and a changing room. You then slowly move towards the lower level or ‘Hell’ via a stairway. The upside-down lower section houses two saunas, a whirlpool, and showers. When you move from up to down, you move from a cooler environment to a warmer environment, truly living out the experience of moving from Heaven and Hell.

“The lower level of the platform causes a feeling of estrangement in the observer. As one descends, the temperature rises and the environment becomes more protected. It feels like a descent into the center of the earth, with the poles reversing,” said supervising architect Gottfried Gruber.

The Hub of Huts can accommodate up to 27 people, and the entire structure has a dusky and brown-hued aesthetic to it. Aluminum panels clad all the small huts. A brise soleil shading system in the same material and shade has been attached to some of the huts. The interiors also reflect a similarly earthy color scheme – wooden flooring and light beige ceramics accentuate this warm vibe further.

The whole project was quite a difficult one for the studio, since creating this gravity-defying design was no small feat. “An imposing steel cantilever structure supports the platform, which even brought the engineers to the limits. The asymmetrical assembly was a huge structural challenge, including a complex allocation of technical compartments hidden inside the houses,” said Rungger.

It truly seems like a work of wonder, doesn’t it?

The post This gravity-defying wellness center in the Dolomites features a group of inverted micro-huts first appeared on Yanko Design.

This proposed Moon resort in Dubai will let you visit outer space without leaving planet Earth

Posted on by

Sandra G Matthews and Michael R Henderson of Moon World Resorts Inc. have proposed a 224-meter high spherical resort called ‘Moon’. It will be shaped after the actual moon and built in four locations around the world. The first location is expected to be Dubai. They hope to bring a ‘moon-like’ experience to you, without having to actually leave planet Earth. With space tourism gaining immense popularity these days, this sounds like something that could turn into a major success!

Designer: Sandra G Matthews and Michael R Henderson of Moon World Resorts Inc.

“There is nothing remotely similar to Moon anywhere on planet Earth. It will be a fully integrated, contemporary, luxurious destination resort encompassing a unique signature attraction enabling guests to walk on the lunar surface while exploring an authentic lunar colony – space tourism for all,” said Henderson. The resort would be a hyper-realistic manifestation of the moon, and will basically feature a three-story spherical steel volume that functions as the base, with an orb placed on top of it. Externally, the orb would be decorated as the moon. This orb would be regarded as the “world’s largest sphere”. It would be constructed from steel, covered in a carbon-fiber composite, and integrated with solar panels to power the entire resort.

The base structure will include all the amenities – a spa, a hotel lobby, and a convention center. The moon-like orb will house all the suites. There are 4000 of them in total. It will also hold a lunar colony!

“It will have 10 acres of authentic undulating lunar surface incorporating a highly detailed working lunar colony. This specific area will be utilized for guest visits and astronaut training. The colony will feature multiple global corporations and space agencies showcasing their technology. It will also incorporate a university campus component,” said Henderson.

$5 billion dollars will be required for the construction of each resort. They are expected to attract 10 million visitors a year. Of course, the investment is a major one, but if the steady increase in interest in space tourism is any hint, then such an attraction could turn out to be a major destination. It would be constructed to LEED Gold five-star standard.

 

The post This proposed Moon resort in Dubai will let you visit outer space without leaving planet Earth first appeared on Yanko Design.

This luxury holiday home is every grown-up & child’s dream with an architecture designed to deliver ultimate fun!

Posted on by

If you have ever dreamed of having a treehouse, a pool, a slide, and more in your house but gave it all up because grown-ups can’t have fun, then do I have good news for you! PLA2 is a luxury house is made to incorporate the most fun activities – both indoor and outdoor – into its architecture and interior design. It is an extension of the Z9 resort in Thailand and therefore the holiday vibe is continued with PLA2. The floating villa lets you enjoy water rafting, karaoke, laze by the pool or sleep in the giant net over the water while still living in a modern structure.

PLA2 is close to the Z9 resort so all necessary supplies come from there. The slides and sloped stargazing beds are perfect for people of all ages to have their dream camping night. The team also plans to include a large movie screen for private screenings at the villa. The theme was inspired by active elements and words like dynamic, moving, energy, and vitality which resonates through the structure.

The exterior is inspired by the local fish which can be seen in the rounded curves of the cladding. The shape has two abstract volumes that echo the anatomies of a male and female snake-head fish swimming together. Males are smaller in size, and fresher in color, while females are larger and darker – hence the differences in tone and size observed in each spatial block. The main structure has a balloon frame to make the construction more dispersed and lighter in weight. It includes a water storage system a tugboat, and a backup generator for electricity in case the Z9 Resort can’t be accessed for supplies.

Just like the fish that swim together, the space is designed to blend in with each other in a harmonious flow both internally and externally. The rooms can be all opened up into one space during the day to make most of the natural light and wind while at night they can be separated to create sleeping zones and privacy. Nautical details inspired by submarines can be seen in the door handles or circular windows.

Wood and steel are the main materials used for construction. There are two different shades of wood – reflecting the female/male distinction. Each wooden volume is then punctuated by rusty-looking etched steel frames on the front façades, evoking the gills of the snake-head fish when its mouth opens up. To further illustrate freshwater life, the outdoor pool stands out with its light blue tone while darker and more sandy colors accentuate the interiors – from the bedroom suite to the entrance hall and gathering space. PLA2 incorporates all the fun activities while paying tribute to the local ecosystem beautifully!

Designer: Dersyn Studio

The post This luxury holiday home is every grown-up & child’s dream with an architecture designed to deliver ultimate fun! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Semi-trailers transform into luxury caravans in Poland’s first mobile hotel chain concept!

Posted on by

Good Spot is Poland’s first mobile hotel chain built from renovated isothermal refrigerated semi-trailers found abandoned throughout Poland.

While some of us are ready to commit to the mobile lifestyle, the rest of us want a trial period. Mobile hotels are cropping up in response. Ranging from floating hotels to camp trailers, mobile hotels are even inspiring many to continue with their own mobile lifestyle following checkout.

Inspired by the mobile lifestyle and the movement of wind, Wrocław-based architecture and interior design firm Znamy sie constructed Good Spot, Poland’s first mobile hotel chain concept that transforms disused isothermal refrigerated semi-trailers into two-bedroom mobile campers.

Following a kitesurfing trip in Poland’s coastal town of Hel, the designers at Znamy sie set out to conceptualize a mobile hotel chain designed for guests to travel wherever the wind brings them. Honing in on the hotel’s mobility concept, Znamy sie first coated each dilapidated isothermal refrigerated semi-trailer with a stainless steel exterior similar to the Airstream caravan. Inside each trailer, the designers outfitted the perimeter with all of the amenities and functional elements found in hotels.

Reserving the perimeter of each trailer for the amenities provided more interior walking room, carving out a spacious walking path from one end of the trailer to the other. Custom-built wooden furnishings wrap around the perimeter of Good Spot trailers that include plenty of storage space and seating. Accommodating up to four adults, both ends of Good Spot trailers host two separate sleeping areas where large windows help draw in natural light, brightening the interior’s crisp, white walls even further.

Through Good Spot, Znamy sie remains committed to ecological tourism by bringing new purpose to discarded semi-trailers and providing the off-grid means to explore all of Poland’s natural beauty. Speaking to this, Znamy sie says, “Our project, prepared in cooperation with Good spot, involves upcycling, i.e. increasing the value of the material and changing the purpose of cold storage to hotel rooms. By renovating the trailer, we give it a second life!”

Designer: Znamy sie

 

This shellfish-inspired luxury hotel blends perfectly onto the coastline of this tropical beach

Posted on by

Inspired by shellfish, the Nudibranch hotel comes with an instantly recognizable shell-like facade and has ‘tentacles’ that stretch out in different directions, creating a piece of architecture that looks absolutely stunning from any angle.

The hotel gets its name from the Nudibranch, a species of soft-bodied gastropod mollusks known for shedding their shells after their larval stage. The animals are often known for their incredible design characterized by vibrant colors and hypnotic patterns (often an indication of an animal being toxic), and the hotel follows that trend too, with its grand design comprising a glass facade and lawn-covered public spaces.

The hotel’s glass ‘shell’ forms its most recognizable element. The two shells act as the hotel’s main buildings, with coastal views for each. The rest of the hotel’s ‘body’ surrounds these two shells, forming lawns and pathways above the sandy coast of the beach, guiding you to the hotel’s several amenities, from its restaurants and bars to the spa, swimming pools, and finally back to your room at the hotel. The animal-inspired building comes with signature tentacles too, that sort of form the entrances and exit roads, cutting through the wilderness to let you arrive at or check out of your destination.

The Nudibranch Hotel is a Gold Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2021.

Designer: SpActrum

This off-grid cabin is a solar-powered, uses locally sourced timber and features a triangular roofline!

Posted on by

Inspired by the local area’s shingled roofs and facades, Thorpe clad Canton House’s trio of cabins, from top to bottom in blackened, locally sourced timber.

Hotels are designed to immerse us in unfamiliar worlds. Bringing us to tropical coastlines and jagged cliff sides, hotels are meant to enhance the local area’s best-known features. Marc Thorpe, architect, and designer extraordinaire, recently unveiled his design for Canton House, a cluster of off-grid cabin hotels in the forest of Romania’s Carpathian Mountains that are built from locally harvested timber and inspired by the surrounding area’s vernacular architecture.

In Romania, rural towers and spires of religious centers are often defined by their fully-shingled wooden construction. Inspired by the local area’s shingled roofs and facades, Thorpe clad Canton House’s trio of cabins, from top to bottom in blackened, locally sourced timber, wrapping the exterior facades in uniform wooden shingles. The triangular roof stems from Canton House’s rectangular front facade.

From the front, Canton House appears as a simple, rectangular cabin framed with wooden shingles. Whereas from the side, a triangular roof gives Canton House some height and a dramatic facade. Uniform in design, the Canton House comes outfitted with a kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom, utility closet, and storage rooms finished in plywood. Evoking the spire’s reach for the high heavens, Thorpe built each cabin with an elongated triangular roof that gradually pitches upward from the cabin’s rectangular side facade. Marc Thorpe describes the cabin’s triangular profile, “The cabins are grounded into the terrain with their low horizontal profile to pronounce themselves with a sharp, vertical, [and] triangulated roofline.”

The sharp vertically pitched roof contrasts nicely with the rough and rugged terrain of the Carpathian Mountains. Careful not to disrupt the area’s wooded landscape and to maintain the cabin’s initial off-grid aspirations, Marc Thorpe equipped each cabin hotel with a solar kit and roof to ensure the cabin has plenty of renewable energy available for power. Each solar kit comes with a 1800W solar generator to provide backup power for the four 100W 12V mono solar panels that line the cabins’ roofs. Inside, guests enjoy a minimal interior that’s lined and finished in plywood. Built as supplementary retreats for guests of the area’s main hotel, Tara Luanei, Canton House offers a respite in nature that’s unique to the Carpathian Mountains.

Designer: Marc Thorpe Design

This sustainable floating luxury hotel powered by clean energy has a revolving platform & is mobile!

Posted on by

This Eco-Floating Hotel in Qatar is raising the bar for eco-friendly travel and tourism! Powered by wind + solar energy it also features tidal sustainability mechanisms and a revolving restaurant to give you ALL the best views. Designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS), the hotel would span over 35,000 sq m (376,000 sq ft) and house 152 rooms. The giant glass donut-shaped structure has a lush green cover integrated into its exterior and a mesmerizing indoor waterfall with a huge vortex-like glass roof.

Sustainability is at the core of this project and all of the design details are centered around it. The vortex shape of the roof will actually be used to collect rainwater for irrigation and more while solar panels + wind turbines will provide clean energy. Even the water current will be harnessed with a tidal energy system so when the hotel turns it can produce power similar to a dynamo. The hotel also intends to purify seawater and treat the wastewater it produces so it doesn’t harm the environment. Speaking of waste management, the team aims to develop waste separation units for efficiency and to use them as fertilizer in the landscape for the recycling of substances such as food waste.

With the aim to create maximum benefit towards maintaining ecological balance, the hotel will use a green energy production method called vawtau (vertical axis wind turbine and umbrella) which works as a wind turbine on the vertical axis and it has a function as a sun umbrella on the coastal band. Up to 25 kW of electrical energy can be obtained from each of the 55 vawtau modules which use wind flow caused by temperature difference in sea and land as its working principle. The greenery will help in regulating the temperature while also maintaining the flow of fresh air naturally.

The hotel will be located just off the shore and on a series of floating platforms and guests can access it via the 140-degree connecting pier, a boat, or a helicopter. The rotating platform will move very slowly – one revolution will take 24 hours – so guests won’t be dizzy and can enjoy the amenities like the spa, the pool, mini-golf, and the gym. The rotating movement is controlled by a dynamic positioning system that consists of a series of thrusters and propellers just like the ones that help ships stay on the right course. A luxurious 700 m2 lobby sits in the center featuring transparent vertical surfaces that let in natural light and give a light, airy, flowing visual effect. Each room comes with its own balcony and will offer different perspectives of the hotel and the views as it rotates slowly.

What makes it interesting is that although Eco-Floating Hotel is a project whose first leg is planned to take place in Qatar, the team is designing it in a way that it can be taken to different places with special mobile features. “Our team is working and studying with technical consultants and experts from different fields. This project adopts the motto of minimum energy loss and zero waste as a principle according to the design approach it has put forward. Due to its characteristic moving feature, it generates electrical energy by rotating around its position according to the water flow and provides users with different perspective experiences,” says HAADS.

It was inspired by the sea with which it is associated in every sense especially in its shape which was guided by whirlpools. Whirlpools form a rotation around themselves in a regular flow and that is reflected in the hotel’s shape which seems to have risen with its borders and evolved into a structure. The idea of the whirlpool also inspired the rotating platform and revolves around itself within the framework of controls in order to ensure electrical energy efficiency and everchanging panoramic views. Eco-Floating Hotel aims to minimize its intervention in the ecological balance by not using fossil fuels at any stage. These are all ambitious integrations and HAADS mentioned that feasibility and technical studies are currently ongoing to try and make this a reality by 2025.

Designer: Hayari Atak Architectural Design Studio

ecohotel1

ecohotel2

This sustainable hotel also includes an event space, a bar, a green roof and 40 micro-apartments!

Posted on by

Studio Gang is known for being a super innovative company that produces some of the most unusual architectural designs and their latest concept is a mixed-use sustainable hotel called Populous! With solar panels, a green roof, and other carbon footprint-reducing features, Studio Gang aims to have the doors of this hotel open by 2023 which also seems like a feasible projection for all of us to resume traveling like non-pandemic times again.

Populous will be built in Denver, Colorado, and will measure 135,000 sq ft (roughly 12,500 sq m) with over 13 floors. While most of the interior layout will be dedicated to the hotel and its amenities, Studio Gang also plans to include 40 “micro-apartments” to stay aligned with its mixed-use functionality. It will also feature a public rooftop bar, a viewing point, a ballroom, and more food + drinks vendors – Populous sounds like the Venn Diagram intersection between a hotel, an event space, and an Airbnb tiny home. Hotel guests are immersed in the views of the nearby State Capitol, the Civic Center Park and the mountains beyond through the sweeping windows in their rooms. One really neat detail is that the windows of some rooms are designed to be occupiable so they are transformed into seating or desks that bring the outdoor scenic setting to the guest. The distinct shape of the windows also offers shade to the hotel and can channel rainwater to help keep the facade clean over time too using the “lids” that stretch outward.

The wedge-shaped building’s facade reminds me of a huge cheese grater and that is not something I mind but turns out it was the bark of local Aspen trees that inspired Studio Gang to make it that way. “At the building’s base, the windows grow up to 30 ft [9 m] in height to frame entrances and views into the lobby, restaurant, and amenity spaces. The texture and rhythm of its sculptural facade is strongly tied to the building’s hotel function. Each vertical scallop is the width of a hotel room, and its windows change in size in response to public and private spaces. The distinctive window shapes are informed by studying the characteristic patterns found on Aspen trees (Populus tremuloides). As the trees grow, they shed their lower branches, leaving behind dark, eye-shaped marks on the papery bark of their trunks,” says Studio Gang. Populous will be receiving the LEED Gold green building standard and will integrate features like roof-based solar panels to reduce its draw on the grid, a green roof, and an efficient heating/cooling system. I can’t wait to see more sustainable hotels that will help us make travel and tourism an environmentally-friendly experience powered by clean energy!

Designer: Studio Gang