well you can print your digital photos too, duh.
and you actually have to have your films developed and printed before you can show them to anyone. So you need to fire up something beforehand.
I am an architect and i can easily say that these coffin rooms aren't out of the limits. Sure, ten square-meter rooms are definitely pushing the limits, but normally, (even though there's no limit on luxury rooms), hotel rooms don't usually measure more than 20-25 square meters. 12-16 square meters rooms are not uncommon.
in Europe, people who live with their families or roommates live in apartments which are around 25-35 square meters per person. (in urban areas of course, rural areas are a whole different deal). There are also studios for one which can be as small as 30 square meters (for everything you need, bathroom, kitchen, a bedroom and a living room.) 10 square meters are a far stretch, but since you won't be "living" there, it'd be okay.
Geometry of this 10 square meter room is probably 2.2 x 4.5 or something like 2.40 x 4.15. In many building codes, you can't build a bedroom narrower than 2.4 meters. A 3.3 x 3 room is also possible but not likely due to its square-like dimensions which is not really suitable for a hotel room.
The more disturbing thing about these rooms are the fact that they don't have natural light. IMHO, that's a no-go. Lack of natural light (not to mention lack of natural air-flow) in bedrooms are almost always unacceptable barring extreme circumstances. And these circumstances here being squeezing more bucks out of a cheap concrete box, i'd say it's not cool at all. These rooms should be *really* cheap to match their "coffin factor".
The real important deal in this article is that this hotel is totally automated, which nullifies A LOT of costs such as staff wages. After all, in the long run building costs are trivial next to cost of running a hotel.
Slashdot Mirror
well you can print your digital photos too, duh. and you actually have to have your films developed and printed before you can show them to anyone. So you need to fire up something beforehand.
I am an architect and i can easily say that these coffin rooms aren't out of the limits. Sure, ten square-meter rooms are definitely pushing the limits, but normally, (even though there's no limit on luxury rooms), hotel rooms don't usually measure more than 20-25 square meters. 12-16 square meters rooms are not uncommon. in Europe, people who live with their families or roommates live in apartments which are around 25-35 square meters per person. (in urban areas of course, rural areas are a whole different deal). There are also studios for one which can be as small as 30 square meters (for everything you need, bathroom, kitchen, a bedroom and a living room.) 10 square meters are a far stretch, but since you won't be "living" there, it'd be okay. Geometry of this 10 square meter room is probably 2.2 x 4.5 or something like 2.40 x 4.15. In many building codes, you can't build a bedroom narrower than 2.4 meters. A 3.3 x 3 room is also possible but not likely due to its square-like dimensions which is not really suitable for a hotel room. The more disturbing thing about these rooms are the fact that they don't have natural light. IMHO, that's a no-go. Lack of natural light (not to mention lack of natural air-flow) in bedrooms are almost always unacceptable barring extreme circumstances. And these circumstances here being squeezing more bucks out of a cheap concrete box, i'd say it's not cool at all. These rooms should be *really* cheap to match their "coffin factor". The real important deal in this article is that this hotel is totally automated, which nullifies A LOT of costs such as staff wages. After all, in the long run building costs are trivial next to cost of running a hotel.