artist-designed space suite immerses guests in an out-of-world experience

artist-designed space suite immerses guests in an out-of-world experience
images courtesy of kameha grand zürich

with the opening of their cutting-edge and artistic ‘space suite’, guests at the kameha grand zürich hotel can find themselves immersed in an out-of-world experience. german artist, adventurer and future astronaut michael najjar has completely transformed the room interior into a virtual space station. the walls, floor and ceiling are canvassed with universe motifs from the hubble space telescope, a rocket engine spot light illuminates the living room, and novels, films and audiobooks about space travel outfit the reading room.

the window to the outside has been replaced by a reflective, mirrored surface

upon entering the space suite, an automated, erotic female voice welcomes ‘crew members’ in 8 different variations, confirming their login and reading instructions for operating the room. once inside, an inverted universe carpet, based on several high-res files from hubble space telescope, spans throughout the length of the suite, abstracting space as white, and stars as black.

within the ‘living module’, the window to the outside has been replaced by a reflective, mirrored surface — a physical simulation which interferes with reality. spot lights inspired by rocket engines hang overhead and a space glove, where guests can place their phones or key cards, protrude from the wall. four acrylic platforms hold mock ups of historic rockets and space ships — the famous V2, the russian soyuz, the american space shuttle and the futuristic spaceshiptwo by virgin galactic.

the black, rectangular bed protruding from the wall mimics the monolith from ‘2001: a space odyssey’

the bedroom is canvassed with a semi-transparent foil, which blocks visibility to the outside but allows light to enter. the black, rectangular bed protruding from the wall mimics the monolith from ‘2001: a space odyssey’, and has been conceived to look like it is floating without gravity. the ‘sleeping module’ also features a book shelf containing non-fiction and science fiction publications handpicked by najjar himself, each about space travel, technology and adventures.

the bedroom is canvassed with a semi-transparent foil that blocks visibility to the outside but allows light to enter

artwork by najjar added to the suite  interior includes ‘liquid gravity’, a piece that explores linkages between space, gravity, and the human body; portraits of the space crew of TMA-14M, which left earth in a soyuz spaceship in september 2014 for ‘space voyagers’; and the video work ‘orbital cascade_57-46’, which visualizes the quantity of defunct objects in orbit around the earth from 1957 to 2046.

a 3D printed rocket engine spot light illuminates the living room