Oslo - A Netherlands-based developer is creating a floating, snowflaked-shaped glass hotel from which guests can stare in awe at the Aurora Borealis from their beds.
The project, which began in 2008, is called Krystall and will be getting under way again after a financial crisis postponed it.
Eighty-six luxury rooms will be encased within a glass structure alongside conference rooms and a spa, all of which is only accessible by boat, to ensure its five-star status.
The stationary hotel will be installed near Tromso in northern Norway, reportedly between fjords, with work to start next year and an estimated opening projected for late 2016. It would be constructed in pieces in dry docks, the architect said, before being assembled on location.
Explaining the physics and design of the hotel, Koen Olthuis, Dutch architect and founder of Waterstudio, a specialist in floating structures, said: “The floating (base) is very big and because of that also very stable. You will not notice any movement.” Different to any vessel this hotel is floating real estate and will not move.
The shape provides most of the stability but additional technology with dampers, springs and cables is used to take away any acceleration.
“Same look and feel as a land-based hotel but then on the most beautiful spot on the water. The hotel is not connected to land so all the logistics will be provided by boats.”
According to Olthuis, who wouldn’t reveal the actual cost of the project, the budget is 15 percent more than it would have been if it were built on land.
“It is hoped that the hotel will be ‘self-supporting and sustainable’ using top-of-the-range technology in an area close to an international airport, helping to buoy the ‘growing eco-tourism market’.
“Dutch Docklands has learned to live with the water instead of fighting it,” the firm states. “Floating houses are common in the Netherlands but we took that technology abroad and scaled it up in size.” – Daily Mail