PROJECT DATA
Name: BIOSPHERE
Date: 02/02/2022
Program: Hotel
Status: Under Construction
Size in m2: 34
Project type: Hospitality
Client: Treehotel
Collaborators: Ulf Öhman, Chairman of the Norrbotten Ornithological Association, Ateljé Lyktan, Vittjärvshus
Location Text: Harads, Sweden
In close collaboration with Treehotel and Swedish ornithologist Ulf Öhman, the new BIG-designed hotel room Biosphere will bring 350 bird houses to the renowned hotel. Suspended in the Harads pines, BIG’s experiential design is the eighth hotel room on the property and seeks to enhance the surrounding biosphere.
By designing a treetop hotel room with a triple glazed façade of bird nests, the aim of Biosphere is to decrease the downward spiral of the bird population in the Swedish woods and instead strengthen the biosphere and natural habitat. By varying the individual sizes of the bird nests and expanding them outwards, and based upon the bird type and frequency in the area, light is able to enter the interior space whilst maintaining the outwards views. “Inventories in Norrbotten County, carried out both by us as ornithologists and by the County Administrative Board, show that a number of different bird populations are decreasing. Forestry has led to a reduced number of natural holes in trees where breeding bird nests. The installation of bird nests is therefore an important measure to take. Furthermore, climate change leads to the insect boom happening earlier in the year, and by the time the birds’ eggs hatch, the boom has already passed. Feeding is an important support mechanism for the birds that stay in Northern Sweden and require food during winter. Demonstrating the use of bird nests and feeding, not just at the Treehotel but for people to install near their own homes, is valuable. An initiative from Treehotel to take such measures may inspire their visitors to do the same,” explains Ulf Öhman, chairman of the Norrbotten Ornithological Association.