Wilderness hotel saves water and energy
Treehotel in Harads, Sweden.It's hard to think of anything more imaginative than Treehotel's treehouses. About 100 kilometers from Luleå airport is the small village of Harads, which has become somewhat of a center for nature tourism with a premium feel.
Treehotel started with a simple guest house and has since grown and changed over the years from a relatively simple business to a luxurious lifestyle concept with innovative design as a hallmark.
Over the years, new treehouses have been added one by one, while Treehotel has attracted more and more attention. This at the same time as the focus on sustainability and a total experience that includes both adventure and gastronomy has become clearer. The first tree houses were designed by the owner’s friends, three well-known architects who immediately ignited the idea of a design hotel in the middle of the wilderness. The result was the first innovative houses: UFO, Mirror cube, Blue cone, Cabin and Birds nest.
Treehotel has a clear sustainability focus. All the houses are built using techniques and materials that have as little climate impact as possible. An example is the organic wood used for patios and walkways. Unlike traditional impregnated wood, it is completely free of chemical substances. Instead, a heating technique is used that hardens the wood and makes it resistant to weather and wind.
The houses are also very well insulated and equipped with underfloor heating, low-energy lighting, an electric incinerator toilet and the sustainable water system Rukkamoinika, which contains 3 liters of water for basic hygiene. The electricity itself naturally comes from local hydropower.
The seventh house that was built was named the 7th house. It is the most magnificent to date in several ways – it is both bigger, higher up and even more luxurious than its predecessors. In addition, a shower was installed for the first time in the tree house itself, and the choice fell naturally on the Orbital Shower. 7th room has huge panoramic windows facing the river and skylights in the bedroom that allow you to contemplate the starry sky or, with a bit of luck, the fascinating northern lights. In the middle of the building is a terrace with a net that allows you to see all the way down to the ground.
The entire treehouse is furnished with Scandinavian woods and textiles. An extra cozy factor is the open fireplace, which lights up automatically when the temperature drops below a certain level. And no, even though we are in Norrland, the mosquitoes are conspicuous by their absence - they simply cannot bear to climb to this height.