Lucy in the Sky — Deventer, Netherlands

A former industrial boomtown and harbour city in the eastern Netherlands, Deventer has long been in steady decline. It’s fortunes, however, seem to be changing as the beautiful local surroundings and affordable rents have started to coax an influx of the creative class. Part of the Lucy in the Sky project - an initiative set up by four friends who paired local architects and visual artists to collaborate on one-off, single room hotels - Lucy Cube is made up of a steel-reinforced timber frame placed on a rectangular grain hopper, which once functioned as an essential link in the transfer of goods in the docks where the hotel is located. Designed by the visual artist Rob Sweere and Mulders van den Berk architects, the room is smartly laid out, hiding a pantry, bathroom, shower and staircase in each of the four corners of the structure. Windows are large and flood the hotel with light. Guests enjoy a unique private location, located in the vibrant harbour area, ten minutes from the narrow, winding streets of old Deventer and the navigable wide-open flood plain of the river Ijssel.