Kapok Helix

This is Inisfree’s ‘twisting’ tree hotel.

 

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Table of Contents:

  1. Vocabulary
  2. Basics
  3. Dimensions & Layout
  4. Capacity
  5. Special Features
  6. Overall Structure (Images Begin)
  7. Concepts
  8. Looking at It
  9. Interior

 

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Vocabulary:

ka·pok
ˈkāˌpäk/
noun
noun: kapok
  1. a fine, fibrous cottonlike substance that grows around the seeds of the ceiba tree, used as stuffing for cushions, soft toys, etc.
    • another term for ceiba.
      noun: kapok tree; plural noun: kapok trees

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cei·ba
ˈsābə/
noun
noun: ceiba; plural noun: ceibas
  1. a very tall tropical American tree from which kapok is obtained, with lightweight yellowish or pinkish timber. It is pollinated by bats and was held sacred by the Maya.

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he·lix
ˈhēliks/
noun
noun: helix; plural noun: helices
  1. an object having a three-dimensional shape like that of a wire wound uniformly in a single layer around a cylinder or cone, as in a corkscrew or spiral staircase.
    synonyms: spiral, coil, corkscrew, curl, curlicue, twist, gyre, whorl, convolution; More
    • GEOMETRY
      a curve on a conical or cylindrical surface that would become a straight line if the surface were unrolled into a plane.
    • BIOCHEMISTRY
      an extended spiral chain of atoms in a protein, nucleic acid, or other polymeric molecule.
    • ARCHITECTURE
      a spiral ornament.

 

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Basics:

This special hotel, like the Giant Baobab on the other side of our city, is living, breathing, fully-functioning tree; it has roots, trunks, branches, twigs, leaves, and fruit.  There are also slightly bioluminescent parts, making it a favorite hangout and retreat for many of the ancient Elves visiting us who remember the Age of Lamps and before.  Our Kapok Helix, as we have come to call it, is similar in many ways to the Two Trees of Valinor; Telperion and Laurelin, the Silver Tree and the Gold Tree.

 

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Dimensions & Layout:

Counting its uppermost leaves and lowest root systems, this ‘baby World Tree‘ is nearly 3/4 of a mile tall.  Thus, its interior is laid out a lot like the like-sized WGI HQ Tower in downtown Sotu, except that there are fewer floors in this ‘building’ due to how rooms, suites, lobbies, and other open spaces are worked into the natural gaps and concave parts of the giant branches.  The majority of them are nestled evenly down between the wide-spread trunks, which curve around each other, forming a bark-covered DNA-like triple-helix large enough for Titans to walk through.  AIOWs inside, and rope-and-plank balconies & fire-escape-like structures outside, connect every level and section, though many visitors enjoy using the tree’s limbs & vines like Tarzan.

 

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Capacity:

There is room for tens of thousands of guests and staff in the structure built under, around, and slightly into this massive tree.  This population tends to be spread out throughout all the rest of the trees of Ferngully Crater here.  You will usually see only one to three people per room in the Kapok Helix, and generally only when they are resting or enjoying group activities in the Inisfreean style.

 

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Special Features:

This is also a living being; this towering building is a mini World Tree grown by the Inisfreeans with the help of the Elves.

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2024 June 15 Saturday addition:  mushroom-shaped nightlight-beds in some rooms

 

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Overall Structure:

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Concepts:

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Looking at It:

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Interior:

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Also see:

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