BIG’s Biosphere is the eighth treehouse at the Treehotel, located in remote woodland in Swedish Lapland, near the village of Harads. The 34-square-meter hotel room, accessible though a bridge and created in collaboration with Swedish ornithologist Ulf Öhman, is suspended between two trees and contained within a largely glazed cube. This structure is surrounded by a metal grid that supports 350 birdhouses of different sizes, to encourage a wide variety of birds to nest, creating an almost spherical-shaped room.

The room is created with the hope not only to offer an exciting experience for human guests but also to help local bird populations to increase. “I got to spend a few days and nights in some of the Treehotel rooms right before the pandemic, and left with a sense of rejuvenation from complete immersion into nature,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels. “I couldn't help wondering if there was a way to take the immersion one step further – and almost instantly the idea of inviting not only the human visitors but also the resident bird and bat population to cohabit a spherical swarm of nests came to life. […] After our first conversations with Ulf Öhman from Norrbotten Ornithological Association we were relieved to learn that birds don’t drop where they nest – so there is hope for the glass to remain clear within this cloud of aviary architecture”.

“Forestry has led to a reduced number of natural holes in trees where breeding birds nest. The installation of bird nests is, therefore, an important measure to take”, said Öhman, who also hopes that the hotel’s guests will be encouraged to install birdhouses in their houses when they return from holiday.