Guests can sleep directly on the edge of steep, narrow "cliffs."
According to a report by the UK's Daily Mail on January 9, Polish designers have created a uniquely shaped "rock hotel" for Barcelona, a city in northeastern Spain. Guests not only can climb onto the massive rocks outside the hotel to overlook the city scenery but also can sleep directly on the edge of steep, narrow "cliffs." The hope is that one day Barcelona will turn this design into reality, allowing people to experience the thrill of camping in the wild within the city.
This 100-meter-tall creative building is called the "Barcelona Rock Hotel." Its main structure consists of many 4-meter-high boulders embedded in specially reinforced concrete, with gaps between each boulder to allow for ventilation. It was designed by the Polish UGO architectural firm for the 2011 "Bohemian Backpackers' Hotel" international design competition. The competition required each participating team to design a 100-meter-tall, uniquely styled hotel that includes leisure areas, shopping areas, a café, and must become a new landmark at the hotel’s location.
According to Hugon Kowalski, general manager of UGO, the designers drew inspiration from the Montserrat mountain range on the outskirts of Barcelona. They wanted the rock hotel to look like it is part of these towering mountains.
In the future, in addition to 50 standard guest rooms, the hotel will feature advanced recreational facilities such as a swimming pool, gym, café, hot spring bath, shopping mall, and a rock climbing practice wall. Guests who are brave enough can even try sleeping on the narrow cliffs on the hotel’s exterior walls, falling asleep under the starry sky. Of course, these cliffs are equipped with safety ropes, so guests just need to secure themselves with the ropes and don’t have to worry about their safety.