Looking for a hotel room with a view in London? How about a boat on a rooftop? That would be Room for London – a one bedroom hotel shaped like a boat on the roof of Queen Elizabeth Hall at Southbank Centre, London.
Room for London
From the upper and lower decks of this rooftop boat, guests can enjoy the extraordinary views of London, from Big Ben to St Paul’s cathedral.
It’s a good bet, though, that there will be a lot more people staring at the boat stuck on the rooftop than the other London attractions in the South Bank.
It’s a temporary installation that’s going to be part of the London 2012 Festival. Living Architecture and Artangel, in association with Southbank Centre, ran a contest where they invited designs for the instllation. The winning Room for London: Roi des Belges design, chosen out of 500 submissions, was sent in by David Kohn Architects and artist Fiona Banner.
Their concept of this boat left stranded on top of the building is that it came to rest there, grounded, perhaps, from the retreating waters of the Thames below.
David Kohn architects explains that “The idea evolved from narratives of travel and displacement in literature, in particular Joseph Conrad’s novella ‘Heart of Darkness,’ a story that begins beside the River Thames. The boat takes its name from the steamboat that Conrad himself captained on the Congo. Visitors to the boat will be invited to create their own narrative by recording their experience on board.”
The inside of the ‘hotel’ consists of one double bedroom with a view of London and an ensuite bathroom. In addition to the balconies on the upper deck, there’s also a library on board. Guests will be expected to raise a ‘nautical flag’ when they come aboard, and write about their stay and the whole experience in the logbook.
You can book the Room for London starting Sept 8, for stays from January to June 2012. For those who want a stay during the 2012 London Olympics, reservations can be made starting January 2012, for stays in between July-Dec 2012.
On top of the guests who will pay to stay, there will also be some ‘thinkers-in-residence’ invited to come and stay at the boatel on the roof and encouraged to write about it and the city.
Photo courtesy David Kohn Architects and Fiona Banner
More info and booking: living-architecture.co.uk
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