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Architecture

A Bed under the Stars

Thursday, 16 April 2009

Posted by Niki Fulton at 21:08 PM in Architecture

Imagine you are high in the snow covered Italian Dolomites and it is the dead of night. You are lying in a in a warm, comfortable and intimate space and you have a 360 degree view of the night sky. You watch the sun rise over the snowy peaks while listening to your favourite music. Too good to be true? No actually.

Moritz Craffonara owns the extraordinary Club Moritzino , a restaurant at the Gran Risa Mountain station in the Italian Dolomites, next to the Alta Badia World Cup ski descent. Strangely, for a restaurant at 2100 metres, the speciality is fresh seafood – oysters and lobster spaghetti being favourites on the menu! This is a place where you arrive by snow mobile, clubbing starts after lunch and skiing is done through the night! It is also where Formula 1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella spent his birthday!

So, no surprise then that Moritz hatched a plan for the world's ultimate bolt-hole. He wanted somewhere his visitors could stay and absorb the spectacular scenery.

He approached Ross Lovegrove who came up with the "Alpine Pod", the ultimate "mountain living unit". The pod, which looks like a droplet of pure water, is a capsule with a reflective skin on the exterior but from the inside offers a clear 360 degree view of the landscape. The pod includes "power plants" which have photovoltaic panels and mini wind turbines to allow you to relax in a warm, comfortable environment. As Lovegroves said, "the pod defines a new architectural condition, off grid and harmonic with nature". It is an "ethereal infinity space".

From late next year you can book this incredible space, lie back (guilt free as it has an almost negligible carbon footprint) and absorb the changing colours of day and night amidst the most spectacular mountain scenery.

Many thanks to Moritz for supplying the photographs and information.

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Comment posted by Clare on Friday, 08 May 2009 at 12:30 PM

This is stunning! I need a mini one in my garden now as I can't wait until late next year...

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