The 2006 Millionaire Fair in Kortrijk, Belgium saw the debut of a magnetic floating bed that pretty much takes the cake for the coolest bed in the world—and the most expensive. Conventional beds and mattresses haven’t changed much over the years, and that’s where Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars comes in. The goal in his project was to make a usable piece of furniture that wasn’t constrained by the laws of gravity.
Ruijssenaars reportedly worked on the technology for six years in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics. Permanent opposing industrial-strength magnets allow the bed to float around 1.3 feet off the floor while holding almost 2,000 lbs. This aesthetically pleasing technology could also be applied to other areas in home furnishings like coffee tables, sofas, and Japanese dining tables. How cool would it be to eat sushi and drink sake off a floating table?
While the expensive bed will run you €1,200,000 (US $1.6 million), a smaller unit, one fifth of the full size, costs €115,000 (US $153,000). If you are a millionaire and simply must have this eye-catching bed, the people at Universe Architecture would be happy to make it happen for you.
The guy wires are indeed a Very Bad Idea,TM and all in all I'm not sure what advantage this has over any other bed. I've somehow managed to live almost 39 years without having a bed platform that doesn't touch the ground.
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
You're looking for a practical reason for this? Ha, it's a toy for the rich to show off that they're rich enough to buy cool but impractical novelties.
Mikey wrote:A waste of money is still a waste of money, no matter how little you feel the loss.
Thank you.
There is only one way of avoiding the war – that is the overthrow of this society. However, as we are too weak for this task, the war is inevitable. -L. Trotsky, 1939
Mikey wrote:A waste of money is still a waste of money, no matter how little you feel the loss.
Thank you.
If you have enough money to waste on something like this, you have more money than there is any practical use for. One could argue that in itself is a waste (or a misallocation) of society's resources.
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wonderous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross... but it's not for the timid." Q, Q Who
If it didn't need the wires and the whole floor had the magnetism I could see the practicality for a table, not as much a bed. A table could be freely moved around without damaging the floor, and it not having any friction would make it much easier to move, I would think, although, I'm not sure if it would work that way if your just making it float, that would probably require much more technology in it for the 'real' antigravity.
Nickswitz wrote:If it didn't need the wires and the whole floor had the magnetism I could see the practicality for a table, not as much a bed. A table could be freely moved around without damaging the floor, and it not having any friction would make it much easier to move, I would think, although, I'm not sure if it would work that way if your just making it float, that would probably require much more technology in it for the 'real' antigravity.
The problem is if the whole floor was magnetic and there were no guy wires of any kind, it would flip over due to the opposite poles attracting each other, and then you have a million dollar 2000 lb. brick. Instead of guy wires, why not steel loops on the corners of the bed, and steel poles in the loops anchored to the floor? That would keep it from flipping over and keep people from smashing their faces in the floor.
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -Benjamin Franklin-
Nickswitz wrote:If it didn't need the wires and the whole floor had the magnetism I could see the practicality for a table, not as much a bed. A table could be freely moved around without damaging the floor, and it not having any friction would make it much easier to move, I would think, although, I'm not sure if it would work that way if your just making it float, that would probably require much more technology in it for the 'real' antigravity.
The problem is if the whole floor was magnetic and there were no guy wires of any kind, it would flip over due to the opposite poles attracting each other, and then you have a million dollar 2000 lb. brick. Instead of guy wires, why not steel loops on the corners of the bed, and steel poles in the loops anchored to the floor? That would keep it from flipping over and keep people from smashing their faces in the floor.
Wait, wait... I think you're onto something! A bed that, instead of floating and being held by guy wires, is actual held aloft by posts or some other material extensions between the platform and the floor. That's brilliant!!!
Oh, wait, I think someone else may have hit on that already. I think they called it a "bed."
I can't stand nothing dull
I got the high gloss luster
I'll massacre your ass as fast
as Bull offed Custer
Yeah, with Mikey and Tsuki on this. It's an expensive and rather impractical toy. It's just... why? It's one of those things you look at, cock your head to the side and shrug.
I swear to god.......I look at that thing and I get a vision of Peter Griffon from Family Guy laying on his back with a plastic tarp over him for a second, before he jumps up and yells "Ha, look at me! I'm Han Solo, and I'm frozen in Carbonite!"
They say that in the Army,
the women are mighty fine.
They look like Phyllis Diller,
and walk like Frankenstein.
