![cargolifter hangar cargolifter hangar](https://palladium.de/img/uploads/800_thumbs/CargolifterWerftLuftschif_6_800.jpg)
It has no roof, but two sides that look like the giant wooden trestle bridges that you see in Westerns movies. In front of the dirigible is a very large, strange-looking construction. A multitude of tiny stick-like figures await their orders below.
Cargolifter hangar full#
In front of it is the sea, full of floating chunks of ice.Ĭables hang down from the sides of the craft like the antenna of an insect. Their glaciers glisten in the spring sunshine. The machine itself is dwarfed by the snow-covered mountains that surround it on three sides. On the sides of the airship are stamped in black capital letters, one word: ITALIA. In the photo, a huge silver airship floats over a large snowfield. It was great to have discovered the story about the hangar while writing my book. Read my recent piece about the hangar at the top of the world for BBC Future in full below or the original here. And it is high enough to fit in the whole of Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, with all its skyscrapers.In the 1920s, a huge wooden hangar was built on a remote Norwegian island for a giant airship set to explore the frozen north – and there are still traces of it today. The Tropical Islands Dome covers an area of 66,000 m², the size of eight football fields. That is big enough to fit the Statue of Liberty in standing up and the Eiffel Tower lying on its side. In fact, it is one of the world´s largest self-supporting halls in the world: 360 metres long, 210 metres wide and an incredible 107 metres high. The dimensions of the Dome The Tropical Islands Dome is gigantic. The construction had to be able to withstand snow and rain masses across 70,000 square metres of roofing, and its heating system had to maintain more than five million cubic metres of air at the right temperature. Its gigantic dimensions posed a major challenge for the planners of Siemens subsidiary SIAT.
![cargolifter hangar cargolifter hangar](https://i.blogs.es/416193/aerium-hangar-mas-grande-del-mundo/450_1000.jpg)
The shape was designed to accommodate the full volume of the airships and fit around them like an aerodynamic "tailor-made suit". Impressive architecture The huge hall was originally built as an airship hangar commissioned by the German company CargoLifter AG. Not just the kids but also the colleagues who work here have plenty of fun. Located on one side of the Dome, the Tropino Kids Club is a playground paradise for kids and stretches across 4,000 square metres. The components were made in Borneo, Bali and Somoa according to traditional techniques and then shipped to Germany and reconstructed in Tropical Islands. The colleagues from the Food and Beverage Department work here in buildings and huts many of which are made of original materials from the tropics. The Bali Gate forms the entrance to the Tropical Village, where most of our catering facilities are located. At 27 metres tall, the waterslide tower is the highest in Germany. The world's biggest indoor rainforest is home to 50,000 plants and 600 plant species as well as parrots, flamingos and turtles. The swimming areas are not just the main attraction for our guests our lifeguards also get to enjoy having one of Germany's most beautiful workplaces. The 1,200-square-metre Lagoon skirts the monkey rock with its waterfalls. The sandy beach that fringes the sea consists of 860 cubic metres of fine sand. The Tropical Sea alone stretches across an area of 3,000 square metres. Making this dream come true involved a number of major building projects. In 2004 Germany's first tropical resort opened. And sometimes you even get to meet a world-famous star in the process. "You just do your job," she says summing up the encounter. It was only after the actor had climbed back into his helicopter and flown off that Alex got really excited.
![cargolifter hangar cargolifter hangar](https://www.atlasofplaces.com/atlas-of-places-images/_scaled/ATLAS-OF-PLACES-SIAT-GMBH-CARGOLIFTER-AIRSHIP-HANGAR-IMG-13.jpg)
When she arrived at the Dome her colleagues presented her with a huge bunch of flowers - a thank-you gift from Tom Cruise, sent via flower delivery service Fleurop and complete with a personal message. "My English is now Hollywood-tried and tested," she comments with a grin. A few days later she received an unexpected call telling her to come to Tropical Islands as quickly as possible. On the spur of the moment, as her colleagues looked on in disbelief, Alex invited Cruise to take an improvised tour through Tropical Islands that really put her English-language skills to the test. "He asked me what the story was with the Dome," she recalls. Cruise was amused by her spontaneous reaction. Before she could say anything the actor stretched out his hand to shake hers and said: "Hi, I'm Tom." To which Alex responded with a dry: "Oh shit".