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Open-Air Hotel: Infinite-Star Accommodations on the Swiss Alps

28 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

open air hotel

Above and beyond your typical five-star hotel, this open-air room sits at nearly 6,500 feet in the mountains of Switzerland with panoramic views of the Alps.

wall free bedroom

A bed, side tables and lamps are not quite all visitors need to enjoy their stay at Null Stern (translated: Zero Star), but bathrooms are just a few minutes down the slope and meals are delivered by a butler. The name is a little misleading, since in most hotels one would have greatly reduced access to the infinite stars in the night sky.

boutique mountain hotel

At around $ 250 per night, the space and its amenities are a steal and reservations are refunded in case of inclement weather. The wall-and-ceiling-free room is available in spring and fall but closed during the winter.

wall free hotel

The Null Stern is part art experiment and part boutique hotel, using the sky as a ceiling and mountains as walls.

alps panoramic view

“Even though this version is radically different from the first one in the nuclear bunker,” a previous project by the same creators, “the essence and the spirit of the concept remains the same,” said one of the artists behind Null Stern “To put the guest at the centre of the experience and to focus on the intangible by reducing everything else to the minimum.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

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Posted in Creativity

Pink Marble Public Pissoir: Open-Air Urinal in Urban Zurich

28 Aug

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

sculptural urinal 2

This giant hunk of pink marble in the middle of a Zurich car park isn’t a sculpture, exactly; it’s a place to relieve yourself in the open air so you don’t go stinking up the city. So-called ‘pissoirs’ can be found all over Europe, ranging from ornate Victorian designs resembling gazebos to portable plastic contraptions to cylindrical urinals that actually retract into the ground. Portuguese architecture firm Bureau A’s version, standing in the middle of a parking lot, looks like modern art.

sculptural urinal 1

sculptural urinal 5

From the rose tint of the high-end marble imported from Lisbon to the LED light advertising its presence after dark, this thing doesn’t look anything like what most of us would identify as a urinal. “In the form of a noble fountain, a classical figure of occidental culture, Lisbon sends a solid salute to rich Zurich,” say the designers.

sculptural urinal 4

sculptural urinal 3

Indeed, streams of water pour down the marble faces to whisk away foul-smelling excretions, which pour from a spout directly into a pothole planted with pebbles and grasses. The classically-influenced design pays tribute to adjacent historical attractions and acknowledges the fact that such facilities are required in order to keep the city clean.

urinals for women 2

Of course, there’s one big problem with such pissoirs, even fancy ones like this: they’re only for men. While Copenhagen studio UiWE designed some efficient-looking urinals for women (pictured above), they’ve yet to catch on in any real way, forcing anyone who can’t use a conventional urinal to mad dash it around the city looking for accessible restrooms when they have to go.