Interior Designers Build Bespoke Home Observatories as August 12 Eclipse Lifts Demand
Updated
Updated · Financial Times · Jun 9
Interior Designers Build Bespoke Home Observatories as August 12 Eclipse Lifts Demand
1 articles · Updated · Financial Times · Jun 9
Summary
London and Sussex designers say clients are increasingly commissioning bespoke stargazing rooms, huts and observatories as interest builds ahead of the August 12 total solar eclipse and the Perseid meteor shower.
Taylor Howes has fielded scaled-up requests for night-sky spaces, including a timber-clad Sussex stargazing hut and a French Alps telescope nook, with dimmable lighting and concealed joinery used to cut light pollution.
Ström Architects built a Sussex home observatory for an amateur astronomer with vibration-free concrete foundations, a rotating dome and a control room to support hours-long astrophotography exposures.
Astronomy demand is also lifting travel and property appeal: Mallorca hotel rates for eclipse week have risen above expectations, with some charging more than €20,000 for August 12.
Broader interest has been reinforced by public astronomy events, a Royal Astronomical Society podcast drawing more than 1 million listeners a year, and resorts from Portugal to Montana adding observatories and astronomy nights.