Top 10 designs for hotels of tomorrow

How different will checking into a hotel in 2028 vs. 2008, or even as far out into the future as 2050? While architects and designers are fast at work conjuring up new hotel models, if you are world traveler, businesstravel or occasional tourist, you already know that some of these new innovative hotels of the future have dropped off the drawing board are already becoming realities.

Here is a list of my top ten hotels of the future that have just been constructed or are anticipating a debut in the very near future in strategic destinations around the globe, sea and sky, with some that can claim locations truly out of this world!

Hotel of the Future #10 - Hotel Burj Al Arab

Considered the first and only 7-Star hotel in the world, the Hotel Burj Al Arab was designed to resemble a billowing sail of 321 meters. Dominating the Dubai coastline, in the evening it offers extraordinary views, encircled by choreographed color sculptures of water and fire. This all-suite hotel offers chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, discreet in-suite check in, private reception desk on every floor and a team of highly trained butlers who provide around-the-clock attention.

Hotel Burj Al Arab

Hotel of the Future #9 -The Inflatable Space Hotel

The Commercial Space Station Skywalker , designed by Bigelow Aerospace, Las Vegas is an inflatable space hotel. With a preliminary phase launched in 2007 from Russia and an anticipated completion date of 2015, the hotel will be positioned 515-kms above Earth. Not only is the hotel inflatable, so is the cost of a room. While the anticipated price tag of the project is only a paltry $500 million, the room rates are expected to run as high as $1 million per night. Business men, try to claim that cost on your next expense report!

The Inflatable Space Hotel

Hotel of the Future #8 - Hotel Pods

When the London-based Thomson Holidays released the report "2024: A Holiday Odyssey," the prominent UK tour operator predicted that hotels of the future will be constructed on foldable pod constructed on stilts, which could be installed anywhere in the world. The pods would be self-sustainable, and guests could actually design their own rooms by projecting their favorite images on the walls. If and when a specific destination was no longer desirable, due a lessening in tourist demand or in the case of terrorism, the pod could simply be packed up and moved to a new location. Sort of like folding up ones’ tent for the space age!

Hotel Pods

Hotel of the Future # 7-Waterworld

No, not the Kevin Kostner’s 1995 movie! Sited in a dramatic lagoon-like quarry in Songjiang, China , this 400-bed resort hotel is uniquely created within the natural elements of its environs. Subterranean public areas and guest rooms add to its distinctiveness. Rock climbing and bungee jumping are unique sporting activities not usually associated with your standard hotel, but the resort also offers guests the standard fare including cafes, restaurants and sporting facilities

Waterworld

Hotel of the Future #6 - The Diamond Ring Hotel

Little is known about the Diamond Ring Hotel as a hotel of the future that comes in the shape of an 185 metre ferris wheel. Advance notices lack descriptive detail, but indicate it will be located in Abu Dhabi and based on its preliminary architectural renderings, it appears that it will conceptually live up to its name!

The Diamond Ring Hotel

Hotel of the Future #5 - The Apeiron Hotel

Still in its design phase, this hotel would be the second (self-awarded) 7 star hotel to be built in Dubai. As already mentioned, the Burj Al Arab Hotels is the first self-proclaimed 7 star hotel in that location. It boasts over 350 luxury apartment suites, and its décor will be jungle-themed. The hi-tech futuristic hotel exudes extensive luxury and comfort with its own private lagoon, beaches, restaurants, cinemas, retail shopping, art gallery, spas and conference facilities. Its out of the world design is mesmeric enough to deliver a spell-bound experience for all visitors.

The Apeiron Hotel

Hotel of the Future #4 -The Poseidon Undersea Resort

Bruce Jones who has spent much of his career designing ground-breaking submarines for the rich and famous, is now redirecting his expertise to the hotel industry on a private island in Fiji. Surrounded by 5,000-acre lagoon, the hotel’s accommodations will include luxurious 550 square feet large suites. Anyone wanting to stay at Poseidon (which will feature submarine usage for all guests) will have to ante up $15,000 for the underwater experience, or $30,000 for a couple sharing a room. The package includes private plane transport from a Fijian airport to the resort. Here, tourists in addition to submarine piloting can indulge in para-sailing, deep reef excursions, scuba diving, sea-tracking on the sea floor, water sports, , and cave exploration.

The Poseidon Undersea Resort

Hotel of the Future #3 -The Lunatic Hotel

For those of us who have always dreamt of honeymoon on the Moon, your wish might need to be bestowed on your children or perhaps your children’s children. A hotel satellite under the self-effacing name of theLunatic Hotel will be constructed by designers Hans-Jurgen Rombaut of the Rotterdam Academy of Architecture in the Netherlands and Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo. However their tentative completion date is scheduled for 2050. The cost of launching tons of steel and water to the Moon is still a major challenge, but according to Rombaut, a good portion of the construction materials can be manufactured right on the Moon itself, using existing minerals and ores. However, with the cost of inflation one can only imagine the kind of deep pockets one will need to check-in to Lunatic. Rombaut is anticipating that a two-week stay in his low-gravity leisure centre will probably cost as much as a mortgage on a house (in an upscale neighborhood, of course)!

The Lunatic Hotel

Hotel of the Future #2 -Death Star Lunar Hotel Complex

Why wonder if we’ll ever check into a hotel on the moon, when if Heerim Architects have their way, lunar hotels can be built right here on Earth? Ultramodern-chic will be coming to Azerbaijani capital of Baku with two "lunar inspired" projects, one of which (Hotel Full Moon) looks an awful lot like the Death Star from Star Wars sagas and the other, the Hotel Crescent, designed as its counterpoint. Whether or not the name“Death Star” will be a draw or detriment, these two hotels are uber-futuristic and will certainly add to the tourism one of the world’s fastest growing economic meccas. While construction dates continue to be postponed and both hotels seem like pipe dreams, one could only wonder when and if they actually do open, if they will become home to royalty and dignitaries, the likes of Princess Leia and her Jedi entourage!

Hotel Full Moon

Hotel Crescent Moon

Hotel of the Future #1 - Aeroscraft: The Flying Luxury Hotel of Tomorrow

The Aeroscraft is a gigantic 400-ton blimp designed to carry passengers in its spacious luxury liner-type facility. The flying hotel is equal in size to two football fields and is airlifted by 14 million cubic feet of helium, huge electric and hydrogen fuel cell powered propellers and six turbofan jet engines. The hotel will be able to accommodate 250 passengers while soaring 8,000 feet above the ground, and will provide tourists with hi-tech amenities in its guestrooms, casino, restaurants and staterooms.

Aeroscraft: The Flying Luxury Hotel of Tomorrow

While all of these futuristic hotels will be shaping future travel, Glen Hiemstra , founder of Futurist.com believes there are other factors that will define the hotels to come. He believes “that robotics will be one of the most significant technologies to affect the hotel industry in the future," says Hiemstra. He envisions a hotel where robots can do the majority of the cleaning and check-ins. "But the really far-out science fictionscenario is with nanotechnology," he says. (In short, nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate and manufacture things at the molecular level.) "In 2025 or 2030, we might be able to have rooms reconfigure themselves to whatever guests want, whether it's a king-sized bed and a couch, or a single bed and a desk."

While checking into the future sounds a lot like an episode out of the TV-show, The Jetsons, with all the innovation and appeal built into the future design, décor and amenities, it sounds like we better start making our reservations now, as there may not be any rooms at the inn, when the future rolls around!

Dubai's Future Buildings

Now that Dubai is bust, I wonder how many of these will be canned? Fantastic designs nevertheless

the 'burj dubai' is a supertall skyscraper

'the cloud'

'dubai hub one'

dancing towers

'dubai renaissance'

'0-14 tower'

duabi pearl'

dubai towers'

'da vinci rotating tower'

clipped from www.designboom.com

the wave tower'

'trump hotel'

dubai opera house

gateway to the city of dubai,

clipped from www.designboom.com

'the almas tower'

'stellar tower'

abu dhabi's performing arts centre

the burj al alam'

'the apeiron hotel'

'the empire tower'

'the palm tower

clipped from www.designboom.com

'the ethiad towers'. the project is located on a the

waterfront in abu dhabi

dubai promenade'

'the al sharq tower'

'D1 tower'

'the lighthouse'

golden dome'

Beautiful Libraries for the Librophiliacs

Remember the Library of Human Imagination?

Here are some more

Strahov Theological Hall - Original Baroque Cabinet

Strahov Theological Hall; Statue of John the Evangelist Holding a Book

Strahov Philosophical Hall Abbey Library St. Gallen, Switzerland Angelica Library, Rome, Italy Herzog August Library, Wolfenbüttel, Germany Beatus Rhenanus Library, Basel, Switzerland Bernadotte Library, Stockholm Sweden Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, Italy Biblioteca Di Bella Arti, Milan, Italy Biblioteca do Palacio e Convento de Mafra I, Lisbon Coast, Portugal Biblioteca do Palàcio Nacional da Ajuda Lisboa III, Lisbon, Portugal Biblioteca Geral University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal Biblioteca Palafoxiana, Puebla, Mexico Bibliotecha de la Real Academia De La Lengua, Madrid, Spain Bibliotheque Alencon, Normandy, France Bibliothéque Nationale de France, Paris, France Duke of Humphrey’s Library, Bodleian, Oxford University, England Boston Copley Public Library, Boston, USA Old British Reading Room, British Museum, London, England Casanatense Library, Rome, Italy Cathedral Library, Kalocsa, Hungary Chetham’s Library, Manchester, UK Dutch Royal Archives Library, Netherlands El Escorial Library, San Lorenzo, Spain Frederick Ferris Thompson Memorial Library, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA George Peabody Library, Baltimore, Maryland, USA Handelingenkamer Tweede Kamer Der Staten-Generaal Den Haag, the Hague, Netherlands Hereford Cathedral Chained Library, Hereford, England (Rare books were once kept chained to the bookshelf to prevent stealing.) Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek Weimar II, Germany Joanina LIbrary University of Coimbra, Portugal Kremsmuenster Abbey Library, Kremsmünster, Upper Austria. Biblioteca Castilla La Mancha, Spain Library of Congress, Washington, DC, USA Library of Parliament, Ottawa, Canada Library of St. Walburga, Zutphen, Netherland (Preserved from the 16th century) Library of the Benedictine Monastery of Admont, Austria Library of the National Palace of Mafra, Portugal Library of the Prussian King Frederic the Second in Potsdam, Germany Melk Monastery Library, Melk, Austria National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London North Reading Room, UC Berkeley, California, USA (Terrific reader suggestion) New York Public Library, New York, USA Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, Belgium Queen’s College Library Oxford Real Gabinete Portugues De Leitura Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (Possibly the most beautiful library of them all.) Rennie Mackintosh Library, Glasgow School of Art, Scotland (Added on excellent reader suggestion.) Riggs Library, Georgetown University, USA Rijkmuseum Library, Amsterdam Riksdagen Library, Swedish Parliament Library, Stockholm, Sweden Russian National Library, St. Petersburg St. Florian Monastery-Library, Austria Salamanca Library, Salamanca, Spain Sansovino Library, Rome, Italy Sorbonne Library, Paris, France State Library, Victoria, Australia Stiftsbibliothek Klosterneuburg, Klosterneuburg, Austria Suzzallo Library, Seattle, Washington, USA The New Library of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Theology Room at St. Deiniol’s library, North Wales Trinity College LIbrary, AKA, The Long Room, Dublin, Ireland University-Library, Helsinki, Finland Vatican Library, Vatican City, Rome Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria Waldsassen Abbey Library, Bavaria, Germany Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge, England Yale, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, Connecticut, USA Amelia S. Givin Library, Mount Holly Springs, PA Bad Schussenried Bibliothekssaal, Baden-Württemberg, Germany Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence, Italy Bibliothèque Solvay, Brussels, Belgium Boston Athenæum, Boston, MA, USA Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford, England Cornell Law School Library, Ithaca, NY, USA Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington D.C., USA George Vanderbilt’s Biltmore House Library, Asheville, N.C., USA Harper Library, The University of Chicago, IL, USA John Rylands Library, Manchester, England (Thanks to Edward Brownrigg and John Rylands) Klementium Library, Prague, Czech Republic Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales National Library of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Old Chicago Public Library (Current Cultural Center), Chicago, IL, USA Pierpont Morgan Library, NY, NY, USA Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany (The reading room pictured is entirely underground, the ceiling being level with the grass.) Sterling Memorial Library, Yale, New Haven, Connecticut, USA (The rest of Sterling Library is incredible, but I particularly enjoy that wonderful library specialty, the card catalog) The Grolier Club Library, NY, NY, USA Law Library, Iowa State Legislature, IA, USA The St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, Northeast Vermont, USA Thomas Crane Library, Quincy MA, USA Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto, Canada University of Michigan (Old) Law Library, MI, USA Widener Library, Harvard. Cambridge, MA, USA Wiblingen Monestary Library, Ulm, Germany

Man Beds

Bed makers are manning up.

After years of catering to women, manufacturers are setting their sights on men. The new macho mattresses they're introducing have "muscle-recovery properties" and cooling technology, on the theory that men are more likely to feel too hot in bed. The bed frames feature built-in TVs, iPod docking stations, wine coolers, safes and other guy-friendly gadgetry.

Dave Shapiro, a 33-year-old real-estate investor in Philadelphia, paid $30,000 for a Hollandia International adjustable bed that offers a built-in 32-inch Sony flat-screen TV, surround-sound speakers and outlets for laptops. "The best thing is the TV," he says. "You don't have to get up."

Hollandia International’s ‘Sphere’ bed, includes a champagne cooler just in case. The cave-like structure comes in fabrics including suede and microfiber. The flat screen TV is embedded in frame, and includes a remote control.

Mr. Shapiro admits his wife was less than enthusiastic when he picked the bed out six months ago. He delighted in showing her that the TV could be lowered into the footboard via remote, and he let her pick out the color and pattern of the mattress fabric. His wife declined to comment.

here's the one with the retractable TV

Star Wars Fan Apartment

           

Michael Jackson's Neverland

CNN

Today Show

Inside Neverland

Recycling Old Churches

There seems to be a trend to turn old churches into pubs or restaurants. 

Here is another, Church Brew Works:

Link to their webpage

In fact, there is a company McMenamins, that is well known for remaking old building originally built for another purpose into thriving restaurant brew pubs.

from Wiki:

Unique locations

There are fifty-eight McMenamins sites and many of its locations are renovated historical properties; as of June 2004, nine are on theNational Register of Historic Places:

• a former elementary school (Kennedy School),
• a movie theater built by Universal Studios (The Bagdad Theater and Pub),
• a building once used by the Church of Sweden as a Swedish Evangelical Mission (Mission Theater),
• the site of a former general store once owned by Oregon's first state treasurer (Boon's Treasury),
• a saloon once used by Polish immigrants to plan what became the west coast's first Polish Catholic Church (White Eagle Saloon),
• a saloon and former brothel in downtown Centralia, Washington (Olympic Club Hotel),
• a pioneer homestead with an octagonal barn (Cornelius Pass Roadhouse),
• a former Multnomah County poor farm (Edgefield),
• a ballroom with a floating floor (The Crystal Ballroom),
• a classic old saloon in Olympia Washington called The Spar.

Other locations include a former Masonic retirement home, a building that was part of the Lewis & Clark Centennial Exposition and a former funeral home in North Portland.

Link to Mcmenamins