Daily Archives: October 4, 2015

The space suite at this hotel in Zrich was designed with all the classic space films in mind.

By Jessica Plautz2015-10-01 19:55:31 UTC

A hotel in Switzerland is capitalizing on our collective space craze.

The Grand Kameha Zrich hotel is offering guests the opportunity to stay in a space suite a space station-inspired accommodation with an elaborate astronaut motif for $2,000 a night.

German artist Michael Najjar designed the suite for the Grand Kameha.

Najjar hopes to be the first contemporary artist in space he has gone through cosmonaut training in Russia, spending the past three years preparing to become one of Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic Pioneer Astronauts.

"The idea behind this is to immerse guests or crew members in the atmosphere of a space station," the hotel said in a statement, "tapping into various elements of perception to enliven the experience."

While the suite is indeed space-y, it has little in common with the space station. For one thing, the hotel has not done away with gravity but that's nitpicking.

Instead, the suite is more of a sci-fi recreation of a luxurious future in space, even though Najjar's purpose was art and not comfort.

"The intention was not at all to create a comfortable bedroom," he told CNN.

Comfortable or not, here's a look at the suite along with the reality at the International Space Station (ISS).

The "zero gravity" bed at the Grand Kameha is designed to look as though it's floating. Unfortunately, it won't give you the feeling of being at zero gravity. Unlike astronaut Scott Kelly's bed on the ISS, which is designed to hold him to it while he catches some zzzzs.

An astronaut's glove is coming out of the wall in the space suite. In space, the gloves have a slightly different purpose than cellphone holder.

The spacious (get it) living room at the Grand Kameha is about as different from ISS as you can get. The hotel is outfitting the suite with an Apple TV; in space, the astronauts recently crowded around a screen to watch The Martian before it was out in theaters.

The overhead lights are meant to mimic jet engines luckily they only emit about 40 watts, though.

Najjar took his inspiration from several different movies, including Dark Star and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The flair for the dramatic is clear in the design, and will likely be a hit with (well to do) travelers who are eager for Virgin Galactic to become a reality.

But if you want a real space experience, the Grand Kameha is not your best bet.

"For [about the cost of] two nights in that hotel suite, you could just go on a zero-gravity parabolic flight," according to Mashable's space reporter Miriam Kramer. (A weightless flight with Zero G is $4,950 + tax.)

For a tour of the inside of the real ISS, check out this video:

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