Hidden in plain sight between rice paddies and lush forest in the village of Penestan, Kecamatan Ubud, Lift Bali is created without concrete to have a less invasive environmental footprint and impact. Designed by Bali-based architect Alexis Dornier, the lodgings are designed to blend seamlessly with their surroundings. Guests sleep cocooned by leafy trees, wooden beams and the sounds of the jungle.
"Many developments here on this island use high quantities of concrete, and the experience is often times the same. We wanted to challenge that and create light architecture while suggesting a surreal mix of industrial impermanent structures embedded into a tropical forest," Dornier said to Lonely Planet.
There are three lodges, each named after a famous author: Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and Stanley Kubrick.
Each features four-poster beds that sit amongst cane furniture and dark wood panelling. Blinds screen full-height windows, so guests can shower in peace before opening up their rooms to the surrounding jungle.
The freestanding lodges can be reached from a metal staircase that winds around the tree trunk. The bedroom is on the first floor, while the open-air, private deck is on the second floor, shaded by a bamboo roof. Dornier said the "unpretentious" lodgings were designed as "spaces where people could retrieve to, detached and off the ground."
Somewhere stuck in the past and the future, it seeks to bridge different aspects of Bali into a memorable experience, and creates a backdrop for pictures to take or keep in mind.
The park like setting holds a small sauna, a little pool, bar, benches and small recreational areas. This plus the yoga deck way above ground provides enough reason to stay there for a couple of days, as quoted by Arch Daily.
Better still, all this back-to-nature wilderness is just short journey from the cafes, bars and boutiques of Ubud.
