Clustered
around the head of the 68-mile-long Oslofjord, Oslo is probably the most
spacious city in the world. Its 175-square-mile metropolitan area
consists of over 75 percent forests and five percent water. Its fine
deep harbor, Pipervika, stretches into the heart of the city and from it
leave ferries to Denmark and Germany.
Up, Up and Away
Copenhagen To Get Scandinavia’s Largest Design Hotel
by Bob Brooke
Scandinavia isn’t known for many of the largest things. In fact,
living spaces, including hotel rooms, tend to be small and compact.
This has as much to do with the economy as it does retaining heat in
during the harsh winters. But soon, the Bella Center, the largest
convention center in Scandinavia, will open its own hotel, the Bella
Sky Comwell Hotel Copenhagen.
The new hotel will contain 814 rooms in a unique, off-center-looking
twin towers that look like two chunks of ice melting. The Bella Sky will be an
integrated part of Bella Center adding hotel and meeting facilities
to the busy Bella Center. Located in Ørestad, a suburban of
Copenhagen on the island of Amager, close to both the city centre
and Copenhagen Airport, the new hotel’s towers lean 15 degrees in
opposite directions, their facades breaking away as they rise. By
comparison, the leaning tower of Pisa leans only 3.97 degrees. The
Bella Sky’s towers incline amounts to an incredible 20-meter slope
difference between the ground and top floors. A top twist of one of
the towers decreases problems with turbulence in the flat, windy
landscape, and a ground floor twist of the other makes room for a
dedicated entrance. The hotel lobby will merge into the existing
entrance lobby of the Bella Center, making the hotel a true
integrated part of the convention center complex.
In order to build the towers, workers had to be specially trained to
repel down the towers to assemble the facade. The building’s unique
design creates diversity at every floor level, challenging the
conceptions of conventional construction. Due to the it’s complex
architecture, the hotel will offer its guests more than 200 room
variations, which will contribute to creating an individual,
exclusive and warm atmosphere.
The structure offers an unobstructed view of the green meadows
and/or the sea from all the rooms in both towers. Each room will
have floor-to-ceiling windows and will be decorated in a simple, yet
striking, Scandinavian style. The twin-tower design maximizes corner
rooms, of which there are 86. To supplement the center’s 63
conference rooms, the hotel will have 30 of its own on the top
floor, as well as an exclusive sky bar and lounge that offers
patrons a spectacular view of the Copenhagen and the sea. A fitness
center and spa will take care of guests’ physical needs. Three
restaurants will service their food needs.
Every year about 95 000 people die in
Sweden and, according to the law, everyone must be buried. There must be
room for everyone in the cemeteries, therefore the future needs of space
have to be predicted. Because of this funerals must be part of the
planning process.
In
the early Middle Ages, driven by famine at home and the promise of
wealth to be had in other lands, the Vikings set out from Scandinavia to
conquer parts of England, Ireland, France, Russia, and even Turkey.
Bolstered by their successes, the Vikings pushed westward, eventually
crossing the North Atlantic and founding settlements in Iceland,
Greenland, and Newfoundland in Canada. Read
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