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Norway

A Five-Star Snowflake Hotel Will Float Off Norway's Coast

Plans for snowflake-shaped floating hotel with a glass roof (where visitors can view the Northern Lights) is soon to be underway in Norway.

Dutch architect Koen Olthuis and his firm Waterstudio specialize in innovative designs that literally float on water. Olthuis' newest venture, a collabroation with water-development company Dutch Docklands, plans to create a self-supporting, self-sustainable hotel that offers vactioners the chance to float off the coast of Tromso, Norway. Shaped like a six-pointed ice crystal, The Krystall hotel is designed to offer one of the most luxurious hotel experiences in the Arctic Circle, while also avoiding any impact on the surrounding marine environment.

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With a company name like Waterstudio, this clearly isn't Olthius' first floating architectural rodeo. The Krystall is similar to Greenstar, a floating hotel he designed for the tropical seas surrounding Maldives. The challenge of making another bouyant buiding in the less alluring, icy waters of Norway is, well, challenging, but Olthious' plan is on point. Or, six faux-crystalline points.

"In the hotel, you'll float through hallways lined with cool, futuristic blue shapes, recline by a fireplace faced in transparent bricks resembling ice blocks and sleep in rooms tricked out in minimalist, winter-themed designs," he told CNN. All of this rests under glass ceilings which open up the sky for an awesome view of the Nothern Lights.

All the hotel's perks are even more enticing in light of how normal the water-bourne hotel experience can be. Olthuis has stated that “The floating [base] is very big and because of that also very stable. You will not notice any movement"—an impressive feat, considering the proposed 120-meter diameter of the insular hotel. The hotel will be completely detached from land, leaving the only access to and from shore to specially designated boats. So much for valet service.

Not only will The Krystall be easy on the environment, but his work will be safe from rising sea levels, unlike the hundreds of seaside resorts that are looking at higher and higher terrain due to climate change. The ambitious snowflake-shaped structure will begin construction in mid 2015, but we will be waiting anxiously to book a reservation for one of the 86 rooms by the time it's completed late next year.

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Inhabitat

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