A night in the hopper
Ever thought of spending a night in a hopper? In Harlingen, in the Netherlands, you can try it out. This unique hotel gets extra points for its sustainable building technology concept.
Anyone looking for an unusual holiday experience is in just the right place in the port of Harlingen in the Netherlands. A long time ago, an old lighthouse and a large port loading crane were converted into stylish hotels.
Now, you can also spend the night in a disused sand hopper, and start the day with an impressive view out over the mud flats. The twelve metre-high filler crane was built at the beginning of the 20th century and was originally used to load sand, shells, grain, gravel and other bulk goods. This eye-catching structure was converted into a 48 m² hotel room, and now has a king-size bed, a seating corner with minibar, rain shower, WC, whirlpool and double wash basin.
Perfection through comfort
It became clear that the ideal solution was to install an energy-efficient floor heating system for dry construction. This task was smoothly completed by Variotherm partner Technea Duurzaam without a hitch. With its thin system height of just 18 millimetres and low weight of around 25 kg/m², the floor heating is perfectly suited for the conversion of this “building”. It emits radiant heat evenly over the entire floor area, thus ensuring that feet stay warm and providing a cosy atmosphere.
In addition, due to the low flow temperatures, hardly any convection is created, and the room remains free of dust circulation. The gypsum fibre board panels, which were tested for environmental sensitivity, were mounted on a wooden floor construction. The 11.6 mm VarioProFile pipe (aluminium multi-layer composite pipe with profiled surface) was evenly laid out onto the pre-milled, 18 mm-thin VarioComp panels. The thermally conductive VarioComp filling compound rounds off this efficient heating system. Since the VarioProFile pipe is laid close to the surface, the floor heating system for dry construction enables very fast reaction times, quickly bringing the floor surface up to the right temperature. The floor heating also creates a comfortable room climate, thanks to the radiant heat. Not only that: it also leads to a reduction in heating costs.
Sustainable measures
The building technology concept in this unusual hotel also has other outstanding intelligent installations to offer. Other environmental and efficient measures have been taken in the form of the shower water heat recovery and 20 solar panels affixed to the flat roof using a storm-proof mounting system.