Whatever floats your boat, or bed.

"Psh, is your bed grounded? Like, to the ground? Ha. You, my friend, are too retro for words." If your friend has said that, or anything even remotely close to such, in the last few days or weeks or months, something is up. Either your friend is filty rich or from a not too distant future. If neither, I would suggest you invest your time for a new one; because he might have just snapped. Actually, screw any friend that says that. What a bitch.

Enough about friends. What is this floating bed you ask? It's simple actually; it's a bed that floats. As you can see in the picture above, it is a simple concept (upholding a piece of mattress up in the air without suspension of anykind). Not rocket-science. Can't believe it took 6 full years to just get a working protype. All you need is a anti-gravational field in addition to a fully plasmic radiator that will reflect the radioactive panel below the mattress...I almost fooled myself there :D Except that a radioactive mattress will most likely kill. Now there is an idea.

Janjaap Ruijssenaars, a Dutch architect, is the actual mastermind behind this project. Having spent the last 6 years creating the concept and the prototype, one can say that this is his life's dedicated idea. Working with two magnetic plates between the mattress and the floor, it is, simply put, a larger version of our middle school science project (ie. oppposites attract etc...). A scale model has been built, 1/5 of the actual model he is planning to create, and the cost of that model is US $146,953 - and the full size model will cost more than US$ 1.5 million. Yup, it wasn't presented at the Millionaire's Fair just because it was cool. The architect said that his inspiration came from a monolith that he saw in the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Whatever made him want to do this project doesn't matter, it's the result in the market that is going to be on people's minds.

Something this innovative doesn't come without skepticism from the public. Majority of the worry is regarding the magnetic waves that the bed will emit. Some are worried about the health risks of sleeping on such a bed, while others are simply worried about their credit cards and mp3 players. Janjaap has told the public that it is modified, and magnetic forces will not be amplified to the point of harming the genetic body of living beings. Oh yeah, and your credit cards are also safe. Next big problem is with possible blackouts. This problem, the architect has stated, will be fixed before the model is sold to the public. He admits that the project is not complete (ie. no full size working model) and also he said himself that it is not fully comfortable yet to sleep in (but with a few cushions and beddings, that is not a big problem - but flat, hard surfaces are good for your back anywho). Despite some of obvious questionables, a floating bed (which can be used as a desk and such) is sure likely to be a winner once completed and perfected.

Seems like we are heading into an era where we are no longer governed by laws of gravity. This opens the doors to new designs, interior design, infrastruction and everything else in between.

“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.” -Janjaap Ruijssenaars

This creative thinking got him where he is today, and I for one hopes that he isn't the only one dreaming of changing what we normally accept as the inevitable or undeniable - because once again, we have defied what was once thought as impossible.