By Soo Kim
Campers in Amsterdam can enjoy unique space-age style accommodation by sleeping in art installations on a remote artificial island.
UrbanCampsite features 14 unique artworks set on the desert-like landscape of Centrumeiland, one of several artificial islands built in the new city district of IJburg in the east of Amsterdam.
Surrounded by the IJ lake and offering views of Pampus island and the village of Durgerdam, the campsite is set next to the Blijburg beach club, which offers a sandy beach. It is also a five-minute walk from restaurants along the harbour and a train station from where you can reach Amsterdam Central Station, the city's main railway station, in 20 minutes.
Minimally equipped with only a "comfortable" double bed, each habitable installation differs in size, shape and style.
The unusual sleeping spaces include the trampoline-roofed "Trampotent" and elevated houses such as the domed "Universe 7" which offers lake views and can apparently be rotated to meet the position of the sun.
Some installations come with a separate outdoor seating area such as the "lbc Shrinkwrap house" and the "Superfire Camp" which offers a semicircular seating area around a campfire and an outdoor hot tub dug into the sand.
While there is no electricity in each sleeping space, technology addicts can book to use a solar-powered, office-like 'workation' space equipped with Wi-Fi, a desk and chair at the KantoorKaravaan installation.
The website also says the campsite will "make sure there is a romantic light available" in each installation.
Guests will need to bring their own towels and toiletries while the two storey-high "Tribal Toilet Tower" facility, built using toilets, showers, compost and septic tanks, is available for communal use.
Other shared facilities on offer include a fireplace, a hammock and a small kitchen in the "¿Kwiezien?", a common area made entirely of sustainable and recycled materials offering a "free but intimate atmosphere" and a "cosy public place to hang out".
Campers can also harvest and use herbs that other previous guests have planted in the site's herb garden as well as plant new ones for future guests.
The open-air exhibition is available for viewing to both visitors and overnight guests. Stays at the UrbanCampsite can be booked via the Airbnb website. Bookings are available for stays through August this year from €85 ($A52) per night. Bookings are also available from January next year, according to the Airbnb website.
Three of the featured artworks were contributed by the ARCAM (Amsterdam Centre for Architecture), while the rest were designed by local artists and architectural design students. The camp aims to breathe new life into this underused area of the city and show that "even the most remote place can receive an exciting dimension", according to the company's website.
The Telegraph, London
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