Hospitality is one of the industries that have been affected the most by the COVID-19 pandemic. And now that summer is here, COVID doesn’t care about it but hotels, hostels, and various other accommodation providers do.
So, the only thing left to do is to adapt to the current climate of the situation and to offer more spacious and more secluded options for the few guests that they can still find.
Enter Anthénea, a luxury floating circular pod that floats on water, offering some of the most isolated as well as most spectacular hospitality experiences out there.
Turns out, there's a circular pod-shaped apartment on water that people can now rent
Image credits: Anthénea
The Anthénea is the brainchild of naval architect Jean-Michel Ducancelle who has spent over 25 years pondering the various ways humans can inhabit the earth. Inspired by the 1977 James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, Ducancelle merged modern design and the natural environment, resulting in a circular mound-shaped bit of accommodation.
Being an on-water structure, Anthénea is designed to be eco-friendly with a sand screw anchoring system that avoids causing any damage to the seabed and its ecosystems. Besides that, it is fully solar powered to meet all of the electrical and hot water needs of the guests and comes equipped with specialized black and gray water stations that filter out all of the waste and release clean water only.
As for the inside, the pod includes a full kitchenette, an XL-sized bedroom, a bathroom with a round overflow bathtub (with the choice of sea or freshwater), and a lounge area with a curved sofa and other furniture.
The pod is called Anthénea and it's a 100% solar powered and self-sufficient piece of accommodation
Image credits: Anthénea
It comes with its own gray and black water tank and filter systems making sure none of it spills out into the oceans
Image credits: Anthénea
This is all encompassed in a circular 360-degree exterior with glass built in for people to witness the spectacular view in all directions. Oh, and this is besides the observatory up top that opens up for you to chill and glass at the bottom of the pod for checking out the underwater flora and fauna.
The pod is also being marketed as a boat as it has certification as a ship that allows even those without any navigation skills to sail in slow “discovery mode.” This means that you can travel to any location where the water doesn’t get rowdier than a force 6 wind on the Beaufort scale.
And if boating isn’t your fancy, then there’s always the option of jumping off the side of the pod and going swimming, diving or snorkeling. Or all of it.
The pod comes with a fully furnished kitchenette, a bathroom, a lounge, and a bedroom
Image credits: Anthénea
Image credits: Anthénea.
On the outside, there's a 30-meter round deck and a lounge-like observatory
Image credits: Anthénea
In context, all of this fits within the confines of a 30-meter (98.4 feet) peripheral deck with an inside surface of 50 square meters (538.1 square feet) with a maximum height of 4,76 meters (15.6 feet). The total weight of the water pod, ballast included, amounts to 18 tons (nearly 40,000 pounds). The space is designed to fit up to 12 people.
There are several different versions of the Anthénea pod namely the Anthénea Suite, which is the hotel suite version, Anthénea Spa, which is designed as a miniature spa, the Anthénea Business, the meeting room on water version, and Anthénea Open, a blank slate that the customer can customize to their heart’s content.
The pod is a certified boat, so it's possible to travel in it and to even observe underwater life
Image credits: Anthénea
Image credits: Anthénea
Besides being offered to private persons as a living space, Anthénea can also be used as a hotel suite
Image credits: Anthénea
Anthénea pods are currently offered to hotels, businesses, and private persons on a rental and purchase basis. While the pricing is not publicly available on Anthénea’s website, sources say that a night can cost upwards of $330, while those willing to have one of their own pods might have to cough up $535,000.
A few months back, Bored Panda covered another bit of on-water architecture—the Palm Beach Villa that looks much more like a traditional house but is surely no less luxurious than the Anthénea, so if you haven’t had your fill of floating accommodations, why not check it out.
Check out the video overview of the Anthénea below
Image credits: Anthénea
But before you go, let us know what you thought of this. Would you consider renting out or buying the Anthénea pod, and if so, what would you do with it? Tell us in the comments section below!