Treehotel’s latest rooms give guests a bird’s eye view of Sweden
(CNN) – Anyone who has a bird feeder – or a cat – knows that it can be fascinating to watch the world of birds. Now imagine being in the middle of the action in a spherical room hung among the trees, covered with 350 birdhouses.
This is what Treehotel, a hotel in Swedish Lapland that consists of some of the world’s most eye-catching tree houses, offers with Biosphere – its latest “room”.
To continue that trend with its eighth part, Treehotel collaborated with architects and designers from Bjarke Ingels Group, also known as BIG, together with local bird experts, to create Biosphere.
Bird watchers can enjoy the sights from the comfort of their Biosphere Room.
Bjarke Ingels Group
Visitors, who are reached via a suspended walkway, can enjoy the black and gray interiors of the 34-square-meter suite while gazing at the floor, wall and ceiling windows of their winged neighbors.
For those who want an even higher view of the forest and Luleån, Biosphere has a roof terrace with 360 degree views.
Treehotel is located in the northern Swedish village of Harads, just over an hour’s drive from Luleå Airport. Luleå is about an hour’s flight from Stockholm.
Scheduled to open in May, a night in the Biosphere for two guests, including breakfast, will cost $ 12,000 (approximately $ 1,200).
Several houses, one home
The biosphere is covered by birdhouses for many kinds of birds in northern Sweden.
Bjarke Ingels Group
The biosphere’s facades house 350 birdhouses, which house birds in many sizes from western caviar and common redtails to small gray-haired chickens. There are also houses for bees and bats.
Ulf Ӧhman, ornithologist and chairman of Norrbotten County Ornithological Society, worked on the project. Ӧhman explained in a press release that forestry and climate change have contributed to the reduction of several local bird populations, and bird nests surrounding the biosphere may halt these losses.
Treehotel’s Biosphere hosts people and birds in Harads, Sweden.
Bjarke Ingels Group
“Demonstrating the use of bird nests and feeding, not only at Treehotel but for people to install near their own homes, is valuable. An initiative from Treehotel to take such action can inspire its visitors to do the same,” said Ӧhman.
And if you’re wondering, birds do not drop where they nest, according to Ӧhman, so dirty windows should not be a problem.
João Albuquerque, one of Biosphere’s architects and partner at BIG, described the goal of the project as integrating the environment into the building.
Visitors can see birds up close from inside the Biosphere hotel room.
Bjarke Ingels Group
“We designed our addition to the Treehotel – the biosphere – to create a unique experience for hotel guests, which draws inspiration from the qualities of the surrounding forest and absorbs them into the interior,” Albuquerque said in a press release.
“The ecological response is the driving force behind the architectural expression, which contributes to creating a positive environmental impact.”