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Sleeping in Style in Bali’s Eco-friendly Treetop Hotel

Sleeping in Style in Bali’s Eco-friendly Treetop Hotel
Kie/The Spaces | Lift Bali

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.

Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces
Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces

 

There are three lodges, each named after a famous author: Ernest HemingwayGeorge 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.

Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces
Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces

 

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. 

Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces
Lift Bali. Image: Kie/The Spaces

 

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. 

Indah Gilang Pusparani

Indah is a researcher at Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Daerah Kota Cirebon (Regional Development Planning and Research Agency of Cirebon Municipality). She covers More international relations, tourism, and startups in Southeast Asia region and beyond. Indah graduated from MSc Development Administration and Planning from University College London, United Kingdom in 2015. She finished bachelor degree from International Relations from University of Indonesia in 2014, with two exchange programs in Political Science at National University of Singapore and New Media in Journalism at Ball State University, USA. She was awarded Diplomacy Award at Harvard World Model United Nations and named as Indonesian Gifted Researcher by Australian National University. She is Researcher at Regional Planning Board in Cirebon, West Java. She previously worked as Editor in Bening Communication, the Commonwealth Parliament Association UK, and diplomacy consulting firm Best Delegate LLC in USA. Less
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