hotels

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Illustration

Architectural Drawings Detail the Spatial Dimensions and Unique Amenities of Japanese Hotel Rooms

In preparing for her own design projects, Tokyo-based architect Kei Endo sketches elaborate diagrams of hotel rooms. The watercolor works depict overhead views of floor layouts, color schemes, lighting, and the details of special amenities from hairdryers to soap bottles paired with precise dimensions. While focused on the uniform details of spaces like Hotel Siro in Toshima-ku or The Okura Tokyo, the drawings reveal how the designer’s attention to space, comfort, and lodgers’ needs inform every inch of the room.

In addition to her travel-based works, Endo also deconstructs desserts with similar measurements, and you can find more of her renderings on her site and Instagram. (via Spoon & Tamago)

 

Design

A Floating Hotel with Aurora Views Just Opened on a Frozen River in Sweden

After 16 months of construction, a spa hotel built on the Lule River in the northern province of Lapland Sweden is now open to travelers. Called Arctic Bath, the 12-room hotel features six elevated land cabins and six cabins that float when the river thaws. In the center is a circular structure with saunas, hot baths around the perimeter, and a large ice bath at its core.

For the buoyant rooms and main structure, architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi took design inspiration from timber floating methods used by loggers to transport felled trees downriver. The land cabins were designed by Ann Kathrin Lundqvist with glass walls that provide guests with unobstructed views of the surrounding Swedish landscape. In addition to experiencing the unique architecture, visitors have access to various spa and wellness treatments, chef-prepared meals, and activities including yoga, dogsledding, bear watching, and cross country skiing.

“The Arctic Bath really is a first—it’s a special spa experience,” Lundqvist said in a statement. “So much thought, engineering and ingenuity have come together to provide visitors with an experience they can’t find anywhere else.” Reservations for the hotel are now open, with rates starting at 9600 Swedish Krona (just more than $1,000 U.S. dollars), and dates available between February 2020 and February 2021.

Design

Wooden Detailing and Hanging Plants Provide a Modern Update for an Industrial Building From the 1950s

In 2014 Auckland and Los Angeles-based Fearon Hay Architects were asked to convert a dilapidated 1950s building in Taichung, Taiwan into a boutique hotel. After a site visit, the studio decided integrate as many of the existing elements of the building as possible, embracing the original character of the raw industrial building. The resulting SOF Hotel still has the charm of the seven-decade-old structure, with natural timber furniture elements, large glass enclosures, and sporadic gardens that provide a minimal and modern update. Hanging plants protect rooms from the busy streets below, while a large open atrium provides bright, central light. You can see more of Fearon Hay Architects projects on their website, and follow more images by the project photographer Andrès Gallardo Albajar on Instagram.

Amazing Design

You Say Potato, I Say Hotel Room: a Private Airbnb Fashioned From a Retired 6-Ton Promotional Spud

What better way to be a couch potato than spending a relaxing weekend at a potato-shaped hotel? The new venue, which is available via Airbnb, is located in Boise, Idaho—a state that even touts its potatoes on vehicle license plates. The larger-than-life potato began its journey seven years ago on the back of a semi truck, as it traveled widely to promote the state’s famous starchy vegetable with the Idaho Potato Commission. Its most recent iteration as overnight accommodations was the project of Kristie Wolfe, who added a retrofitted silo complete with a bathtub and fireplace. The 6-ton potato palace has open availability for many nights over the summer, as of press time. (via Twisted Sifter)

Art

A Multi-Story Metallic Splash Sculpture by Pere Gifre Drops Through the Center of a Madrid Hotel

For the last 15 years artist Pere Gifre has specialized in producing water-based sculptures through a process linked to visual effects engineering. His technique transforms the natural movements of water into works imbued with its natural form, allowing the sculptures to remain “alive” despite their metal composition.

The most recent installation by the San Francisco-based artist is an 80-foot waterfall that cascades down the center of the VP Plaza España Hotel in Madrid. The metallic multi-level drip descends from the hotel’s 12th floor glass bottom pool into the atrium below with a dramatic splash. Lighting is projected onto the work, shifting the silver sculpture through several colors throughout the day.  You can see a video tour of the included installation on Youtube, and browse some of Gifre’s small-scale gastronomy-inspired pieces on his website.

Art Design

Banksy Releases New Miniature Walled Off Hotel Souvenir Series

Banksy’s year-old project in Bethlehem, The Walled Off Hotel (previously), has just released a new set of souvenirs exclusively available in the hotel shop. The series of works, which are each hand-painted by local artists, depict the West Bank barrier in a crumbling state. A hooded figure is featured beside the wall in several of the works—either contributing a fresh piece of graffiti or physically breaking through the wall with a mallet in hand. Banksy views these works as anticipatory objects, pieces that might accurately depict the wall’s end.

The hotel also released a new album during last week’s Palestine Music Expo, featuring international musicians such as Brian Eno, The Black Madonna, Trio Joubran, Roisin Murphy, and Akram Abdulfattah. The work was produced by Block9 during a “Creative Retreat” at the hotel this past February and includes seven collaborative songs inspired by Palestine’s history. The Walled Off Hotel Creative Retreat Album is now available for free on Soundcloud.