The room also boasts a luxurious bathroom with pitch-black walls but the pièce de résistance is actually the suite’s ceiling. “It needed to look a bit crooked but still be logical enough so that it wouldn’t be complicated to make,” says hotelier Friðrik Pálsson. “We managed it somehow by centering the room off-center and keeping the same inclination on all the rafters from the walls.”
Like the other suites at Hotel Rangá, the African Suite was a group effort designed and built by the owners and members of staff as well as outside contributors. They decided the room should have a small false ceiling made of straw in its off-kilter center, much like an African hut.
„I ended up going to Þorvaldseyri to meet with the farmer there and ask him if we could cut a bit of his wheat before he threshed it but after it was fully grown so that it would be as long as possible,” Friðrik says. „He found the request amusing and we ended up visiting him two more times to collect a whole heap of the wheat.”
Picture Ása Steinarsdóttir
When it came to actually building the small hut ceiling, Friðrik and the builders had no idea how to put it together or even how to hang it. After a few failed attempts and lots of laughter, they finally managed to put their heads together and get the job done. „Up it went and it’s still hanging on after all these years.”
Want to stay in the African suite? Contact our lobby at +354-487-5700, through the contact form, or via email: [email protected] and book your stay.
View other suites through our Rooms & Suites Page.
The Northern Lights at Hotel Rangá