Ladies and Gentlemen, You are Floating in Space

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A young Dutch architect has
created a floating bed which hovers above the ground through magnetic
force and comes with a price tag of 1.2 million euros ($1.54 million).

Janjaap Ruijssenaars took inspiration for the bed — a sleek
black platform, which took six years to develop and can double as a dining
table or a plinth — from the mysterious monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s
1968 cult film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

"No matter where you live all architecture is dictated by gravity.
I wondered whether you could make an object, a building or a piece of
furniture
where this is not the case — where another power actually dictates the
image," Ruijssenaars said.

"Magnets built into the floor and into the
bed itself repel each other, pushing the bed up into the air. Thin
steel cables tether the bed in
place.

"It is not comfortable at the moment," admits Ruijssenaars,
adding it needs cushions and bedclothes before use.

Although people with piercings should have no problem sleeping on the
bed, Ruijssenaars advises them against entering the magnetic field between
the bed and the floor.
They could find their piercing suddenly tugged toward one of the magnets.

from Reuters