WebUrbanist » Travel & Places

18 Award-Winning Tree Houses, Hotels & Schools

Steph — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:43 +0000

Luxurious and eco-friendly, Blue Forest‘s imaginative and playful tree houses, lodges and educational facilities seem to be designed to bring out every adult’s wide-eyed inner child. Blue Forest has designed many incredible structures that celebrate the warmth, coziness and sustainability of wood, honoring the material itself and of course, its source. Check out these 18 eye-catching, envy-inducing buildings made by the UK-based company.

Amberley Castle

Blue Forest’s best-known treehouse is located on the grounds of the Amberley Castle Country Hotel in Scotland. It’s used as a recreational getaway space for hotel guests, and also as a multi-purpose venue for corporate entertainment, meals, weddings and private parties.

RotatED School Concept

This intriguing concept design is a prefabricated, hand-crafted eco classroom that can be set onto a foundation on any of its six sides for a multitude of purposes including gallery space, nature observation and educational lectures.

Tongole Wilderness Lodge

Located on the Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve in Malawi, the Tongole Wilderness Lodge overlooks a river in one of the country’s last ‘truly unspoiled’ wildlife areas. Offered as an eco-friendly place to stay in the region, the open-air lodge was built from local materials including clay, rock, wood and thatch.

Eco Perch

From its diminutive-looking exterior, you would never guess that this Eco Perch vacation rental can sleep four people. Inside are a full-sized bed, bunks for children, a kitchen with a dining area and a full bathroom with shower. Based on Blue Forest’s treehouses, the unit is elevated from the ground. It can be delivered, assembled and ready for decoration with five days.

Cleveley Mere Tree House Hotel

This may just be one of the most luxurious treehouse vacation rentals in the UK. The contemporary lakeside treehouse for getaway spot Cleveley Mere can sleep up to six, with two bedrooms, a sun deck, floor-to-ceiling windows and a rope bridge.

Treehouse Study Center

One of Blue Forest’s educational facilities, the Treehouse Study Center teaches children about nature and the woods in the center of New Forest National Park in Hampshire. It includes two treehouse classrooms, ground-based buildings containing other facilities, canopy walkways, a rope bridge, solar-powered lighting, a water catchment system and biomass energy.

Tarifa Eco Lodge

The organic shape and natural materials of the Tarifa Eco Lodge make it ideal for a nature-oriented getaway. Located in the hills of Andalucia on the Spanish Costa de la Luz, the Tarifa Ecolodge overlooks the Straits of Gibraltar, with views of Africa. It gets its power and hot water from solar panels and has its own water catchment and purification system.

Treetop Holiday

The round Treetop Holiday tree house of Sussex, near the spa town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, is an eco-lodge in the countryside with views of farmland. To access it, you must cross a nearly 80-foot-long rope bridge over a scenic pond.

Longridge Training Center

Charming in its organic simplicity, the Longridge Training Center offers water sports and land-based activities for young people. Blue Forest gave this building, which includes kitchens, meeting rooms, a training hall and more, a full range of eco-friendly features like rainwater harvesting, a heat loss recovery system and lots of sustainably sourced wood.

Feltonfleet Treehouse School

Off-kilter windows give this cute treehouse school in Cobham lots of cheer and personality, adding to the uniqueness of the space. The Feltonfleet Preparatory School added the treehouse as a sustainable way for the school to extend its teaching space.

Center Parcs Treehouses

A stunning juxtaposition of rustic and contemporary style, these treehouses for the Center Parcs Sherwood Forest each have four double bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, open living spaces, kitchens and secondary treehouse ‘entertainment pods’ with home theaters and pool tables. As with all of Blue Forest’s projects, the treehouses are eco-friendly, with lake-source heat pumps, low-energy lighting and grey water recycling.

Enchanted Forest

Built along a small river in the Hertordshire countryside, Enchanted Forest is a two-story fantasy play structure for kids. It features a large main room and open turret with a ladder leading up through a ‘secret’ trap door to a hideaway upstairs, and even has a wood-burning stove.

Adventure Playground

This sprawling treehouse has a main ‘tower’ and several different decks that form a sprawling fantasy play area for kids, incorporating a central trampoline, swings and slides.

Woodland Haven

Quirky and fun, Woodland Haven was built around a central tree as an outdoor play area for children and includes a secret trap door, cargo net, fireman’s pole, monkey bars, swings, a slide and even a basket and pulley to lift items up to the treehouse. A swing bridge attaches it to a deck across the yard.

Fairfield Eco Classroom

Looking like nothing more than a stack of logs, this structure is actually a small and efficient pre-fabricated classroom. The Fairfield Eco-Classroom is raised nearly 7 feet from the ground and covered in a log facade, which was even applied to the window shutters to complete the illusion when they’re closed.

Treetops

Built about 14 feet off the ground at the edge of a forest in Cumbria, Northwest England, the fittingly named ‘Treetops’ is a rustic treehouse with a secondary drinks deck for adults, connected with a swinging rope bridge.

Benenden School

Ringed in copper, this round school building is made of sustainably harvested timber and constructed to blend into its woodland environment. The Benenden School eco classroom is the first building in the UK to process harvested rainwater from its sedum roof into hot and cold drinking water using only solar power.

Rainforest Encounter – Eden Project

Blue Forest has designed a nearly 500-foot canopy walkway for rainforest education resource The Eden Project in Cornwall. ‘Rainforest Encounter’ will be built within the Rainforest Biome at the center, taking visitors on a journey through the treetops nearly 40 feet above the ground.

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Sea Food: 14 Floating Restaurants Around the World

Steph — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:38 +0000

From massive illuminated Chinese restaurants to cute little BBQ tables for ten, these 14 floating restaurants make smart use of available space and turn the dining experience into something of an adventure on the sea.

Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Hong Kong

(images via: wikimedia commons)

One of Hong Kong’s biggest attractions, the Jumbo Kingdom Floating Restaurant sites within the city’s Aberdeen Harbour and has hosted the likes of Queen Elizabeth II and John Wayne. Though it began as a relatively humble floating restaurant in the ’70s, a 2003 renovation basically turned it into a theme park with sightseeing, shopping and cultural attractions.

BBQ Donut’s Floating Restaurant Tables, Germany

(images via: bbq-donut.de)

Germany’s BBQ Donut restaurant is definitely one-of-a-kind. First of all, its floating tables, which have seating for ten, make smart use of water space and are quite a novelty draw. At the center of each of these tables is a BBQ that turns into a picnic table. Each floating pod has its own built-in sound system and even silent electric propulsion so it can cruise around.

The Salt & Sill Restaurant & Hotel, Sweden

(images via: salt to sill)

The Salt & Sill is a minimalist 23-room barge that also serves as a top-notch seafood restaurant specializing in herring and fresh local produce. All 23 rooms have their own outdoor seating areas, but the hotel’s sole suite has an extra-enticing benefit: a private roof-top jacuzzi. The hotel’s location on the lake, by the way, is not a gimmick: the adjacent land simply didn’t have any room.

Sea Palace, Amsterdam

(images via: jylcat, hotel belga)

The ornate Sea Palace is Europe’s first floating Chinese restaurant, and is located near Central Station in Amsterdam. Its pagoda-style exterior is definitely not a sight you would expect to see in Amsterdam, but floating Chinese restaurants like Sea Palace are actually not uncommon in Europe.

Nusa Penida Island Floating Restaurant, Indonesia

(images via: nusaisland.wordpress.com)

Just off the small island of Nusa Penida, which is itself located near Indonesia’s Bali Island, is this cool-looking floating restaurant. The massive pontoon restaurant can be found just off Toya Pakeh beach.

Restaurants of Cat Ba Bay, Vietnam

(images via: phil_marion)

Vietnam’s Cat Ba Bay is home to several floating restaurants, which make for an interesting sight as they bob in the water alongside floating homes and fishing boats. Most of them are, of course, seafood restaurants.

Veli Lake Floating Restaurant, Trivandrum

(images via: skyscraper city)

This pretty floating restaurant can be found in Veli Lake in Trivandrum, India. The restaurant is connected to the mainland by a floating bridge.

Rustar Dhow Floating Restaurant, Dubai

(images via: rustardowboat.com)

Rustar Dhow is the world’s largest floating restaurant that actually cruises around instead of just staying in one place. It’s located in – of course – Dubai, where everything is bigger and more ornate than it is everywhere else in the world. The Rustar Dhow can carry up to 400 passengers at a time.

William Thornton Floating Bar & Restaurant, Norman Island

(images via: gogobot)

Anchored out in the water off Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands, ‘The Willy T’ is only accessible by boat. This floating bar and restaurant is known locally as one of the wildest ‘party barges’ in the area. It’s been in operation since 1985 and offers both lunch and dinner.

Petit Verdot at the Riviera on Vaal, South Africa

(images via: safari now)

The Petit Vardo floating restaurant is located adjacent to the Riviera on Vaal Hotel, which is in the Vaal River about 45 minutes from Johannesburg in South Africa. The barge is topped with an exposed dining deck, and the whole thing is illuminated at night like a giant floating lantern.

India’s Kettuvallam

(images via: noo)

In the Indian state of Kerala, beautiful houseboats with thatched roofs are a common sight floating on the water. Many of these luxury houseboats are open to tourists, who can come onboard and relax while enjoying a freshly cooked meal from the boat’s kitchen.

Tattershall Castle, London

(images via: wikimedia commons)

Moored in the River Thames in London, the PS Tatterhsall Castle is a former passenger and goods ferry built in 1934. During World War II, it was the first civil vessel to carry radar, but by 1973 the ship had run its course and was retired from service. Since 1981, it has been a popular bar and restaurant.

The Plastic Dining Room, Vancouver

(images via: inhabitat)

This lovely little floating dining room made by the School of Fish Foundation is held aloft by 1,672 plastic bottles. Made of reclaimed pinewood, the dining room serves an elegant six-course sustainable seafood menu catered by C Restaurant.

Cincinnati’s Waterfront, the Restaurant That Floated Away

(images via: eater)

Have you been wondering this whole time whether the docked floating restaurants ever escape from their moorings? It has, in fact, happened. Waterfront, a floating restaurant near Cincinnati, broke free in March of 2011 with 83 diners on board. The diners had to be rescued using “a makeshift gangplank of ladders and ropes” while the restaurant was saved from floating too far downriver by tugboats. Unfortunately, the accident caused a lot of damage and the restaurant has not been re-opened.

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Invisible Edges: 15 Death-Defying Infinity Pool Designs

Steph — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:00:14 +0000

The edges of these pools seem to just drop off into space, threatening to whisk swimmers off a cliff, into the sea or over the edge of a skyscraper. Infinity pools, also known as zero-edge pools, use glass walls or waterfall-like overspill troughs to achieve this sometimes vertigo-inducing effect. These 15 particularly scenic infinity pools will have you daydreaming about booking summer vacations.

Cliff-Hanging Home with Cantilevered Pool

(images via: marc gerritsen)

Talk about dream houses – this jaw-dropping ultramodern residence in Thailand not only perches on the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean, it’s got a shimmering cantilevered infinity pool that seems like it extends out forever into the sea. Designed by Original Vision, the home features stacked levels that lift the living spaces high above the tree level, providing the best views possible.

Ubud Hanging Gardens Hotel, Bali

(images via: freshome)

Swimming pools don’t get much more scenic than this. The Ubud Hanging Gardens Hotel in Bali has a towering, multi-leveled infinity pool that looks like a natural cliffside and was in fact designed to mimic the surrounding hills. In addition to the two main pools, each of the 38 guest rooms at Ubud has its own mini infinity pool with views of the nearby Pura Penataran Dalem Segara temple.

Hill House with Amazing Edgeless Pool

(images via: malik architecture)

With views of both the sea and the city of Mumbai and a stunning wrap-around rooftop-deck infinity pool, this unusual geometric house design has it all. While the exterior of the house is a bit eclectic to say the least, the pool more than makes up for it. Lifting the pool above ground level must give the sense of swimming in the sky, especially given the house’s location on top of a hill.

Jade Mountain, St. Lucia

(images via: jademountain.com)

Another tempting resort with an infinity pool for each room is Jade Mountain in St. Lucia, where the views are almost too gorgeous to be believed. The pools are referred to as ‘sanctuaries’ and are classified as ‘stars’, ‘moons’, ‘suns’ and ‘galaxies’ according to size. A night experiencing one of these pools for yourself will range between $950 and $2,700.

Villa Mayavee, Phuket, Thailand

(images via: inspire first)

A private modern residence in Phuket, Thailand, Villa Mayavee has a beautiful slatted wood exterior and lots of glass for looking out at those enviable views of the ocean, but more importantly, check out that pool! Situated between floors, the large infinity pool seems to spill out of the house itself.

Hotel Caruso, Ravello, Italy

(images via: citalia.com)

Renowned for its spectacular rocky cliffs overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, Italy’s Amalfi Coast is one of the most beautiful places in the world. At Hotel Caruso in Ravello, guests can enjoy these views from a heated infinity pool on a clifftop 1,000 feet above sea level. The modern pool is a stunning contrast beside the historic 11th century hotel, a former palazzo.

Astarte Suites, Santorini

(images via: freshome)

What better way to contemplate the natural beauty of Santorini than from a sparkling pool with cliffside views? The Greek island’s Astarte Suites mimics the blue of the ocean and the rocky landscape with its pools and stone pillars.

Langham Place Miora Resort & Spa, Phuket

(images via: phuket-miora.langhamplacehotels.com)

One of Thailand’s prettiest pools is at Langham Place Miora Resort & Spa, located in Phuket. Overlooking the ocean as these resorts typically do, the pool wraps around the exterior of the resort – on the second floor. Each of the 78 designer villas also has its own private plunge pool with retractible floating dining tables.

Huvafen Fushi, Maldives

(images via: only exclusive travel)

Studded with submerged lights and extending out right over a private lagoon in the Indian Ocean, the Huvafen Fushi Resort’s zero-edge pool is a fantasy swimming experience. Just like many of these other high-dollar resorts, Huvafen Fushi’s 43 private bungalows each have their own smaller pool, as well. The resort also has an incredible underwater spa with glass walls that give relaxed patrons dreamy views of passing marine life.

Hemeroscopium House Rooftop Infinity Pool

(images via: home-designing)

Few homeowners can boast not only of a conventional in-ground swimming pool, but also a rooftop infinity pool that cantilevers out over the grass. Hemeroscopium House by Ensamble Studios is a prefabricated concrete house built from three huge I-beams, two segments of an irrigation canal and two steel girders for a highly unusual look. It took just a week to assemble.

Intercontinental Hotel, Hong Kong

(images via: intercontinental hotel, designsxtra)

And now for something completely different: an infinity pool that overlooks not some tropical paradise, but the bustling urban metropolis of Hong Kong – from a third-floor deck. This glass-walled pool still has the feel of a luxury vacation, of course, not just because of the pool itself and the hotel’s many amenities but because of the stretch of water that separates the hotel from the city.

Hotel Joule, Texas

(images via: urban fabric, lost at e minor)

Swim out to the glass end wall of the cantilevered rooftop pool at the 10-story Hotel Joule and you’ll feel like you’re about to spill out into the streets of downtown Dallas, Texas. The pool juts out eight feet beyond the exterior walls of the hotel, enhancing the experience.

Manava Suite Resort, Polynesia

(images via: tripadvisor, lax magazine)

The sound of waves hitting the sand? Check. The sound of a waterfall just below you, as the infinity pool you’re relaxing in spills over into a decorative fountain basin? Check. All the incredible sights of tropical Tahiti? Check, check, check. If you’re lucky enough to stay in a place like this, even for a night, you’re lucky enough.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore

(images via: swag like me, kiwi collection)

From WebEcoist: “When most people envision a pool with an incredibly scenic view, they most likely think of tropical beaches, not skyscrapers – yet there’s no denying that the scenery at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel pool is absolutely breathtaking. Not only is this nearly 500-foot-long pool set into a rooftop skypark, 679 feet above the ground, but it’s an infinity pool, giving swimmers the feeling that they could swim right off the edge of the building. The pool looks out onto one of the world’s most modern cities, which is brilliantly illuminated once the sun goes down.”

Natural Infinity Pools of Pamukkale, Turkey

(images via: dreaming traveller)

As if man-made infinity pools weren’t cool enough, there are also natural edgeless pools that will take your breath away with their beauty. Perhaps the most stunning example is the cliffside hot springs of Pamukkale, Turkey, where falling mineral water rich in calcium has carved basins and stalactites into the rock and turned the entire area snow-white. Visitors are no longer allowed to swim in the pools, as the site is now a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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Rooftop Riverboat House Unveiled: A Room for London

Steph — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:00:46 +0000

Sailing through the clouds in a riverboat perched atop Queen Elizabeth Hall in London may sound like a strange and surreal dream, but some travelers are set to do just that as ‘A Room for London‘ opens to guests. The temporary boat-shaped apartment was commissioned by Living Architecture to celebrate the Olympic year of 2012.

The winner of a competition that saw entries from five hundred architects and artists from around the world, this design by David Kohn and Fiona Banner was inspired by the riverboat Roi des Belges, captained by Joseph Conrad in the Congo in 1890, which served as the basis of his novel Heart of Darkness.

A Room for London is “of no distinct era in terms of its style, neither recognizably modern nor old-fashioned,” Living Architecture notes. From its perch atop Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre, it proffers views of the Thames and will be a prime location from which to gaze out at the bustle of the city when the Summer Olympics start in June.

The riverboat room features an upper viewing deck and a striking magenta-and-turquoise interior including a double bedroom, kitchenette and library. The first run of bookings, which run through June, has already sold out, and the second run, for July through December, go on sale today, January 19th 2012.

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Surreal Estate: China’s Village of Empty Villas

Steve — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:00:42 +0000

China‘s ever-expanding real estate bubble is spawning empty cities, abandoned resorts and other such “bridges to nowhere” but few of these white elephants are as eerie and gloomy as this unusual, unfinished and unoccupied village of empty villas.

Boom, Bust and Echoing Hallways

(image via: BBS.HSW)

China these days is awash with empty, abandoned and overbuilt housing, office and resort space. This is really saying something, considering China has a population of over 1.3 billion and overpopulation was so great a threat to future prosperity, the nation had to enact a draconian “one child law” to put the brakes on reproduction.

(images via: Caixin, Law.Dahe and 95191.com)

If there’s one thing modern China has more than people, however, it’s money… money that begs to be invested (some might say, laundered) in a virtual Pandora’s Box of get-rich-quick schemes. Many, if not most, of these investment “opportunities” are based on land speculation fueled by easy credit and a vast pool of nouveau riche who have been the prime beneficiaries of China’s great economic leap forward. Unlike many other nations, China’s financial system doesn’t provide many venues for cash investment – a concept that itself would be incomprehensible a generation ago. One might say that China’s financial infrastructure hasn’t yet caught up to the money-making machine that China’s economy has become.

(images via: XYBTV.com, Japanorama and Caixin)

In some ways, China’s construction boom is following in the footsteps of Japan’s real estate bubble – which, as we all know, ended rather badly. Even as Japan’s boom turned to bust, the nation’s government sought to cushion the construction industry by continuing to fund bizarre theme parks, unnecessary shoreline remediation and odd “musical highways”… projects that provided short-term employment only.

Villages of the Damned Speculators

(images via: Designerly Thinking and American News Post)

A similar wasteful pattern is being played out in China. Construction is funded for the sake of construction, regardless of any local need. Cities like Ordos sit virtually empty since without any accompanying manufacturing activity nearby, people have no reason to live there (and no income to pay for living space).

(image via: BBS.HSW)

China also suffers from a lack of regulation which has allowed pyramid schemes and official corruption to flourish. Take the unfinished resort complex at Lan Jia Village, in the Baqiao District of Shaanxi province, west of Beijing. The 160-acre complex sits on former farmland, thus depriving farmers of their occupation and markets of fresh and processed food.

(images via: ChinaHush and BBS.HSW)

On the face of it, the idea for a resort at Lan Jia Village isn’t a bad one and it wasn’t bad back in 1997 when developers first presented their plans to local authorities. Situated at the junction of three rivers (Ba River, Wei River and Jing River), the complex features a group of two-story, Mediterranean-style villas highlighted by a central domed conference center. Winding paths and canals weave amongst the villas and artful landscaping lent the resort a pleasing, pastoral vibe.

The Lost Resort

(images via: ChinaHush and ChariWeb)

So much for best intentions. Unbeknownst to the developers (or perhaps knownst, who can say?), regional authorities presented a plan for remodeling the shores of the Wei River, preserving wetlands and instituting a green belt along the shore. “The land belonged to Lan Jia Village at that time,” explained Yan Gaochao, an official from Ba Qiao District, to an independent reporter. “The developers had to apply to the homeland department for approval to nationalize the land before using it for other purposes, which began a series of processes. At that time, the developers took a short cut, signed the draft with the government and started the construction right away, never expecting the process to be stuck and/or contradicting with another government project. That’s why the villa cluster is left unfinished.”

(images via: Gaoling, BBS.HSW and ChariWeb)

One might expect the 160 acres to be cleared and returned to the farmers who originally occupied it but of course, that’s just too easy. While Yan assured the reporter that demolition of the villas “is inevitable”, he was unable to provide any further information. “There are no guidelines, no laws or regulations to follow through, or to decide whether or not to compensate the developers.” Indeed, nearly 15 years after construction began, the developers are nowhere to be found – perhaps they decided to cut their losses and move on to the next scheme.

(image via: Caixin)

In the meantime, the erstwhile Lan Jia Village resort continues to deteriorate. Windowless buildings offer ingress to sheltering wild animals, inclement weather and local children who play among the ruins. The village does have one tenant, however: a man named Li who lives in the domed conference center building. “I have been living here for 7 years,” stated Mr. Li, who said he was hired to oversee the buildings and do some light gardening. “My boss is only a project manager, I have never seen the real boss.” Odds are he never will.