Docklands is a developer of floating real estate and hotels on water. We are an international company with offices in Netherlands Dubai, Maldives and Miami USA. Dutch Docklands headquarters is based in Holland which has learned to live with the water instead of fighting it. Floating houses are common in the Netherlands but we took that technology abroad and scale it up in size. We develop only floating projects.
Koen Olthuis is a Dutch architect and founder of Waterstudio, specialists in floating structures.
Hotel scheduled to start work mid-2015. We are now planning to open 86-room luxury hotel operated by a 5 star hotel operator, before Christmas 2016.
1. Briefly describe the vision of The Krystall hotel? The project for The Krystall hotel was initiated back in 2008 with a cooperation between Dutch Docklands International and Norwegian entrepreneurs. After a long intensive research on location and regulations the design has started. Key for the design was that it should be a simple glass building that would allow the guests to get the most view on the Northern light from their beds. 2. Please summarise the key technology to make a hotel float? The hotel will be built in pieces in dry docks and assembled on location. The floating basis is very big and because of that also very stable. You will not notice any movement. Different to any vessel this hotel is floating real estate and will not move. The shape provides most of the stability but additional technology with dampers, springs and cables is used to take away any acceleration. Same look and feel as a land based hotel but then on the most beautiful spot on the water. The hotel is not connected to land so all the logistics will be provided by boats.
3. Cost of project? We can’t reveal the exact budget now but it is about 15% more expensive to build it with an floating foundation as it would be to build the same hotel on land. 100 million plus.
4. What luxury features will the hotel have for guests? (spa? gym? more?) The hotel will have conference rooms, spa and wellness facilities, just everything you can expect at a 5 star hotel but the glass roofs in the rooms will be the key feature. You can only reach the hotel by boat, also this makes it special.
5. Where exactly will the hotel be sited? We will not yet reveal the exact location before we have handled all the necessary licenses etc. As you can imagine the environmental assessment study is for us the most important because we want to be absolutely scarless as that is the main driver behind our projects.
6. Why did your team choose Tromso, Norway? After a assessment study for the perfect location we have been visiting and this particular region a lot. There are more beautiful locations but the accessibility to the international airport with flights to more and more key cities makes this location the perfect spot in a growing eco-tourism market.
7. Have you seen the Northern Lights, and why does it inspire this project? The Northern Light is the main feature for the hotel. Without the light we would not have chosen this location on water. It is far enough away from disturbing city lights.
8. Ecology is important to your work and this project. Comment on why important. Because it is floating we do not have any impact on that location. We call it a scarless development. If you take it away after hundred years or so it will not leave any physical footprint. That is the only way to bring developments to such a precious and beautiful marine environment in Norway or Maldives.
9. You state the design is "completely self-supporting and self-sustainable". How? We designed The Krystall Hotel to be as self-supporting and sustainable as possible (so not completely because technology does not allow that today) using the latest technology.
