View the Northern Lights in a floating glass snowflake hotel
Travellers will soon be able to enjoy incredible views of the Northern Lights from a glass-roofed, snowflake-shaped floating hotel.
Dutch Docklands, a Netherlands-based developer that specialises in floating structures, is creating the luxury property in Tromso in Norway.
Krystall Hotel will be stationed between two fjords in the Arctic circle. This is one of the best places in the world to view the Northern Lights.
Guests will be able to stare at the breathtaking Aurora Borealis from their beds at the Krystall Hotel.
Now that is what we call a room with a view!
The project, which began in 2008, will be getting underway again in 2015 after the financial crisis rendered it postponed, reports the Independent.
It is estimated to open in late 2016.
The five-star glass hotel will feature 86 luxury rooms, conference rooms and a spa and it will only be accessible by boat.
According to theTelegraph, the hotel will be built in sections in a wharf and towed into position.
The property will be built with a concrete base and tethered with cables to the adjacent fjords.
Koen Olthuis, creative director of Dutch Docklands design affiliate Waterstudio, said "the floating [base] is very big and because of that also very stable. You will not notice any movement.
"Different to any vessel this hotel is floating real estate and will not move. The shape provides most of the stability but additional technology with dampers, springs and cables is used to take away any acceleration.
"It has the same look and feel as a land based hotel but then on the most beautiful spot on the water. The hotel is not connected to land so all the logistics will be provided by boats."
Olthuis would not reveal the cost of the project.
He added that the hotel's development costs have been budgeted as "almost the same as a land-based hotel of this type, but with an additional 15 per cent increase to cover the cost of the floating foundation."
The hotel has been marketed as a "scarless development" that can be removed in the future without any long-term visual impact to the locality in which it was placed, reports the Telegraph.
"We call it a scarless development. If you take it away after hundred years or so it will not leave any physical footprint. That is the only way to bring developments to such a precious and beautiful marine environment in Norway or the Maldives," said Olthuis.
Dutch Docklands is also planning to open a floating resort in the Maldives.
Related stories
Northern lights top Brits' holiday bucket list
Would you dine in this restaurant?
