A Tree House is an intrepid construction that always stimulates us, now imagine that the tree is made of bamboo and is in Bali. Doesn’t it make you want to meet it?
When we travel we collect experiences that enrich our lives. Despite the health crisis that the world is experiencing, this is a reality that we cannot, nor should, ever forget. Even more so when Spain is one of the countries that generates more and better experiences for millions of tourists who visit us every year. However, looking at the other end of the world will also provide us with tourism models from which to enrich ourselves. This is the case of Bali.
This tourist power since the 70s boasts of a remarkable integration with its landscape, an effort that attracts people from all over the world in search of peace, tranquility, clean air and, above all, green areas in abundance and good weather. It is not surprising that hotels bet on villas and rooms that are integrated into the varied nature, also using the best construction tool they have and that nature provides: bamboo.
Stonehouse Tree House, a luxury hotel in the middle of nature
As a singular building this week we bring you the perfect fusion between the two previous paragraphs: the Tree House of the Stonehouse Hotel, in Bali. It is a wonderful construction that surrounds us with the natural green of the town of Ubud, in Bali. This area is very popular for its terraced rice fields, an iconic picture that, surely, has already reached your retina without the need for any image.
The construction of the property ended in 2019, and since then it has provided incredible moments to its users. The hotel company relied on Pablo Luna’s architecture studio, which spared no artistic resources to implement a bamboo-based structural system on a small site. This by itself generates an environment that blends nature with the comfort of a luxury hotel. Honestly, it left me speechless.
The hotel is built from bamboo
The hotel room is reached through a 2.15-meter-wide walkway, which leaves you at the entrance door of the building, about 4.20 meters above the ground, from which beautiful bamboo pillars emerge, inclined at different angles, giving a greater appearance of naturalness. The bamboo used is up to fourteen centimeters in diameter, and some rods reach eight meters, helping to support the roof.
The building has curved shapes on all planes, thus, the roof is an irregular dome or dome that rests on equally curved walls. These walls and cover seem to adapt to the shape of the bed, made with bamboo, and with a design of organic shapes, which could well have been born from nature itself and not from the human hand. To the left of the entrance is the toilet and a sink made of inimitable stone.
The Tree Houses of Bali have all kinds of comforts and luxuries
One of the curiosities of the building is the absence of doors or windows that let you see from the enormous round bed of 2.45 meters in diameter, the lofty vegetation of Ubud. In Bali there are hardly any low temperatures, so the non-existence of a protective wall or carpentry can be allowed, although for the most aggressive days the property has two very useful tools.
The first is a thick curtain capable of dealing with the region’s wind. The second is a very special air conditioner, installed under the bed, which generates a climatic microhabitat when it notices the presence of people on it. So, if you’re cold, there’s no better place than bed. When it’s not cold, which is almost always, you can spend the hours in the copper bathtub on the edge of the terrace, or comfortably installed on the net, almost five meters high, looking out over the green rice terraces.
Four types of bamboo were used to build the hotel
According to the architect Pablo Zalaquett, four different types of bamboo have been used in the work. The dentrocalamus asper for the structure, the ironwood for the terrace and the bathroom floor. In the case of the dome or cover, it has been made with bamboo poles four centimeters wide, four meters long and two thick, forming a mesh to support another type of bamboo. And finally, the black bamboo from Bali, which was covered with copper tiles to protect it from the rain.
The architect tells us that each element of the room, each piece of furniture and detail was designed for the place, making the space unique. This, together with the abundance of organic forms, makes the visitor enjoy their vacation. In fact, he confesses to us that he himself has stayed many times, and that the property has become the most popular in the hotel. Frankly, seeing the images and listening to the architect, the success is not surprising. Its price is around 315 dollars per night, about 260 euros.
An artisan design that connects with nature
All the elements were built with local labor, contracting local companies. Zalaquett tells us that in his studio they executed a 1:50 scale model of the work, since the bamboo craftsmen only work based on the model, no plans or BIM systems. This makes the designer get involved in a very special way with his work, knowing it down to the last detail.
For Pablo, sustainability is based on four pillars: the economy, the social, the environment, and longevity and health. This building interacts with these four pillars, being economically viable for its intended use; using local materials, of great durability and low environmental impact and, on a social level, generating harmony in the people who inhabit it and a precious coexistence with the land that shapes it. And it is that the transition from the bed to the rice fields is achieved, with only a few curtains in between. Without a doubt, a fantastic place to enrich yourself with the immaterial and the natural.
*Photographs courtesy of Matias Allende