Treehotel, Sweden

New Treehotel in Swedish forest, holidaying at one with nature

 Treehotel is a new eco based design hotel concept, with rooms high above the ground in the pines, designed by some of Sweden’s finest architects. Located in the village of Harads, approximately 60 km south of the Arctic Circle, it is surrounded by forest and water and by stillness and wilderness. The plan is to build 24 new rooms in a period of 5 years. ‘Our lives in dense and busy cities, loaded with stress, give us little opportunity to live simply in the true beauty of nature’s wilderness. Undisturbed nature, such as we have here in Harads is an increasingly rare and valuable asset. That’s why two entrepreneurs chose to build their concept hotel here, so that you can experience the calm, the simplicity and the unspoilt beauty in harmony with the surroundings’.

The philosophy behind the concept was born out of the question: ‘Why not create a comfortable, well designed hotel which allows visitors to live in harmony with nature amongst the trees?’ With the help of a group of well known designers and architects, Treehotel have now turned this idea into a reality. Ecological values in mind, they have created a group of unique rooms, each one set in the forest where they live, a refinement of the local conditions. “Dig where you stand” as the saying goes. It is important to them that they find another way to value the forest, rather than to cut the trees for industrial use. ‘This Boreal forest is one of the Earth’s lungs. We need to look after it’.

 

The project involved architects Sandell & Sandberg (architect Thomas Sandell), Interior Group AB (Architect: Bertil Harström), Marten Cyrene (architect: Marten Cyrene), Tham & Videgård Hansson Architects (architect: Martin Videgård Hansson and Bolle Tham). Treehotel also received inspired cooperation with Atelje Lyktan I Åhus, who have developed the lighting for each treeroom. Other cooperation partners were local company Svante vilt och bär, Lena Bergström, textiles and glass designer, Klässbols linneväverier and suppliers of toilets in the "Treehotel” Fritidstoa company.

 

‘Our inspiration came from the documentary film “Trädälskaren” (Treelover) by Jonas Selberg Augustsen. It is the story of three men from the urban environment who look to get back to their roots by building a tree house together. It is a philosophical film about what “the tree” means to us humans, both historically and culturally.’

 

The resort, if you will, offers a range of activities throughout the summer and winter from hiking and horse riding to snug sleigh rides, husky sled safari and snowshoe trekking in the wilderness.