Tourism and architecture go hand in hand. After all, what can give visitors a sense of place greater than the buildings surrounding them? So this week’s Strange but true celebrates this connection by examining some of the most weird and wonderful hotel rooms from around the world…
The definition of a hotel, it seems, is very loose if you are to take a look at Das Parkhotel in Berlin, Germany. Fashioned from a concept of dereliction, visitors to the ‘hotel’ are offered shelter in a cement pipe, outfitted with a double bed, lamp, skylight, brightly painted contrasting walls and a futuristic pin-code lock to enter the eccentric abode. No room for an ensuite here it would seem.
If the aforementioned hotel is only a pipe dream, there’s always a Travelodge. But here is a Travelodge with a difference – created with 88 containers from China the Uxbridge Travelodge will provide you with more sq ft for your dollar and allow you the chance to experience stow-away chic in the heart of London. Not only a novel place to stay while you’re away this hotel offers an enviro-friendly, recycled setting.
If staying in a windowless box is just not hardcore enough for your tastes how about trying a prison break? Turning this massive correctional facility into a decadent hotel, Liberty gives visitors a taste of the inside, inside. With themed restaurant, Clink enclosed by metal bars and bedroom suites with original prison-brick walls this hotel offers a rustic luxury that would be any inmate’s dream.
If you are tempted to break out, however, all you would need for this next hotel is a pick-axe or some patience. Standing for just three months of every year the Ice Hotel in Quebec, Canada is America’s only frozen vacational facility. Painstakingly hand sculpted the hotel changes every year as the building simply thaws in March and a new one emerges in January. Craftsmen involved in Ice Hotel 2008 created a chapel and restaurant inside the building as well as the many ice-rooms lined with furs to keep visitors warm – perfect for a wedding or a film location.
If you prefer your sculpted interiors not to present you with the risk of frost bite, Puerta America offers you a similarly magical enclosure in a much milder climate. Based in Madrid, Puerta America is a sumptuously futuristic work of art more than a building that would encourage even the most fervent tourist to stay indoors and explore its enclaves.
The last hotel on the list, Nest in New York, however may have the opposite effect having you reach for the door through fear of being trampled. The intriguing design has taken safari and minimalism, mushed them up and ended up with a mix similar to that which you might see in your nightmares. The bedrooms feature animal body-pieces seemingly emerging through the walls – a sea gull’s beak juts above the bed in one room in what appears to be a remarkable tribute to Hitchcock. Whether you enjoy other worldly experiences or critiquing art, if you’re rich or poor – there is always an awe-inspiring design innovation to suit your holiday preference.
