This article was taken from the February 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
The first four rooms at Sweden's Treehotel, where you can sleep high in the trees of a boreal forest 50km south of the Arctic Circle, were designed to disappear into their surroundings. One, The Mirrorcube, is camouflaged by the reflections of its environment. Another, The Bird's Nest, is covered by a huge network of twigs. But the Treehotel's latest guest room, The UFO, is an even greater departure.
The cabin, designed by Swedish architect Bertil Harström, is a steel structure that "floats" on four tree trunks rooted deep in the forest floor. In true UFO style, you enter through a hatch in the bottom, reached by retractable steps. "When Harström finished The Bird's Nest he wanted to do something completely different," says Andreas Desai, Treehotel's head of sales. "A bird's nest is the most common thing you can find in a forest, so he chose the least common thing: a UFO."
The suspended space can sleep two adults and two children for 5,240KR (£490) a night. Furnishings and bed linen, designed by Swedish designer Lena Bergström, feature UFOs, planets and astronomical constellations. A sloping ceiling creates a sense that you are about to lift off, and portholes provide glimpses of the terrestrial world outside.
Guests can eat at the hotel's 30s-style guesthouse or have food delivered by Earthling waiters. And if intergalactic travel leaves you stressed, there's always an eight-person sauna just a few trees away to make you feel human again.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
