Ship shape: A nautical hotel to float your boat

The design, by David Kohn Architects and artist Fiona Banner, was the winning entry in A Room For London, a competition that invited people to create an innovative space to rent on the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The idea for the nautical-themed space, according to its creators, came from the steamer in Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness. The space also has a more local reference. The spire of Nicholas Hawksmoor’s Christ Church in Spitalfields inspired its pyramid-shaped steel mast.

Inside the hotel, a ladder provides access to a small library room above the main space where guests can look out across the Thames, or write down thoughts in the ‘ship’s log’. The hotel is available to rent throughout 2012.

To find out more about his flexible, urban approach to architecture, watch our Inform interview with David Kohn.