Million dollar bed floats on magnets

Sure we all like to sleep in comfort, but how many of you would be willing to pay $1.5 million for a one-of-a-kind bed? Anyone? Anyone at all? Well Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars is hoping that someone will shell out big bucks for that floating slab you see pictured above, as he's apparently spent six years of his life in the noble pursuit of a sleeping surface that can be suspended entirely by magnets. Do you actually get a better night's sleep on a bed that's only attached to a solid surface with a few narrow tethers? Probably not, but it seems that anyone spending a million bucks on something like this is more concerned with impressing potential overnight guests than waking up refreshed in the morning, anyway. If you just have to get your hands on one of these, but you'd prefer to remain below the seven-figure price point, Ruijssenaars was also showing off a smaller version at the Miljonaire fair in Kortrijk that goes for a more affordable $146,000; at 1/5th the size of the regular model, it's much too small for you to sleep in, but it would sure make a great perch for your already-spoiled dog or cat.

[Via OhGizmo]

[Dario @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:50PM]

imagine going to bed wearing earings, and wakin up with half of your ear missing. ahhh

[Cliff @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:55PM]

1.5 Million, are you kidding me? My man must be really high.

[Mikw @ Jul 3rd 2006 3:59PM]

Would be cool if it would be really floating unattached. Sadly, there are wires on all four corners which keep the bed from drifting away.

[jnasato @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:02PM]

I would be afraid to run and jump on this thing, as I might fly out my condo window.

[Eric @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:02PM]

Well I guess this means no late night or early morning rss reading or e-mail checking in bed.

[Doc P @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:03PM]

What if you are fat?

[JoseRZ @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:09PM]

Great way to mess up your credit cards.

[Tom W @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:10PM]

It's a flawed design.

Obviously, the main reason to have a floating bed is so the cockroaches can't reach you. The wires holding it in place defeat the purpose.

Good idea. Terrible execution.

[Eli @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:13PM]

I bet I could build one for under ten grand, and it would be way cooler than that.

[Brad @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:15PM]

I used a similar technology to build a magnetically-floating desk! In fact, I'm typing on it righNO CARRIER

[Jeff @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:20PM]

Nah Tom, the cockroaches just fall on you from the ceiling.

Being tethered, this thing wouldn't really give you the sensation of floating. Lame.

[dudeInAmerica @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:23PM]

So... metallic nipple rings are out.

[snafle @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:36PM]

Probably not, it probably has an antimagnetic coating of some kind- soft iron or something.

[skantilous @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:45PM]

if you have cables that keep it from floating off, why not have the bed hand off of the cables from the ceiling instead. the cables defeat the purpose.

[oonix @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:45PM]

This is Wolverine's death bed.

[Rich @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:49PM]

...and it only costs you $1.5 mil ...and your ability to have children ...and your freedom from tumors ...and God knows what else ultra-powerful magnets might do to you. Yay!

[Duck @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:53PM]

If you paid 1.5 million for a bed, I doubt you're living in a cockroach infested appartment.... Unless, maybe, purchasing the bed has depleted your bank account.

[Rich @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:54PM]

Speaking of X-Men...

I wonder if it might be anything like that scene in X-Men 2 where Magneto pulls all the iron out of the guard's blood.

Not literally, but is it possible lying on a bed of powerful magnets would draw the iron in your blood down to the lowest elevations of your sleeping body? Could that have adverse effects?

It's probably just sci-fi and my imagination run amok, but who knows? What if it's true, and you always sleep on your left side? Then with this bed the right half of your body would end up getting less iron than it should.

[evo @ Jul 3rd 2006 4:59PM]

Metal moving within a magnetic field generates electricity. If you have sex on the bed frequently, the bed could eventually pay for itself.

[Torontoguy @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:06PM]

I can imagine the ad campaign.
"Take advantage of our handy 'Lay-Awake' plan."
You lay awake worrying about how you are going to pay for a million dollar bed!

[rickm @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:07PM]

I'll stick to my Westin Heavenly Bed. It's pure goodness.

[Emceay @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:09PM]

Fall asleep with a disk based DAP and have the bed of the future ruin your life.
They should put these in ritzy hotels so that customers' keys get demagnetized and lock them out of the room after the first night. They'll ask for a refund, but won't be able to run their credit cards because they fell asleep plastered with their clothes on.

[Jay @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:12PM]

Cancer and infertility, anyone?

[Joo @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:12PM]

I can bet you this is coming up in the next p diddy/busta rymes video! Along with the usual bling.

[gil @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:21PM]

if this bed flips while you are sleeping, the opposite poles will attract with a slam and crush you.

[gil @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:24PM]

Emceay, how do you come up with this sh!t? Are you a hotelier?

[RAKA @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:24PM]

think cancer. magnetic fields on the sh*t must be huge.

[Massimo Meijer @ Jul 3rd 2006 5:26PM]

Well if I ever have a few miljoen euro / dollar left I would probably buy something like that! Hahah

[hyped1 @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:02PM]

Well Tom W. If you have a million dollars I am sure you either live in a place that does not have cockroaches or you can afford to pay an exterminator.

Also tethered and all it must feel like floating as it must fluctuate up and down slightly when you are on it.

[Paul @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:17PM]

Principal Skinner: "I dream of a state-of-the art detention centre, where children are held in place with MAGNETS!"

Seriously, if it has wires to stop it 'floating' away, why not just suspend the bed from the ceiling by wires and 'pretend' it's floating on magnets?

I'll do it a mere 25 grand - pass the pliers.

[Evan @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:21PM]

Rich: The iron in your blood is non-ferrous, that is; it's not attracted to magnets. The guard in the movie was injected with metal by Mystique the night before.

Everyone else: Magnets have absolutely no effect on your body whatsoever, high intensity magnetic fields will not give you cancer or kill sperm or whatever else.

[Jack @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:29PM]

Perhaps there will be awesome accessories. Maybe magnetic underpants. Magnetic sex toys!!!

[Pete Avila @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:33PM]

What about people with fillings! Ouch!!

[Tom @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:50PM]

The cables are to keep it balanced.
Rolling over in bed would likely roll the bed.
What would be smart would be having sensors that change the magnetic fields to keep the bed balanced. If I were a billionaire i'd definitely buy one. This dude is a genius.

[eerdepeer @ Jul 3rd 2006 6:59PM]

Proud to be dutch :-]

[bones @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:01PM]

What the?? My little ktown, "Kortrijk" is mentioned in this article without no further details?? As if anyone actually knows this city? haha! It's in belgium for anyone guessing as to where in the h*ll this little town is :)

Feel free to visit and drop me a line if you do! Maybe it's a conspiracy from the evil engadget editors to hint where the next engadget reader meet is?

[Guruboy @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:06PM]

I don't think that the magnets would attract things like ripping out fillings because the whole thing goes off the principal that two magnets with opposite charges will attract and the same charge will repel. If the bed is suspended, then the whole shebang must be in magnetic equilibrium.

[Casey @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:18PM]

hmm.. is titanium magnetic? Like artificial hips and knees. what about the screws and plates used to fix broken bones?

[jamminjetta @ Nov 10th 2006 1:51PM]

are you stupid? anything that attracts to a magnet will rust, so your not gonna have them in your body

[DT @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:32PM]

Guruboy,
If you went to public school, I weep for the state of public education. If you went to private school, tell your parents to go get their money back.

[fuutott @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:45PM]

Imagine if something goes wrong and the polarisation suddenly changes. SPLAT!

[ROXXOR @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:46PM]

Nothing more than a reverse-hammock. It's still interesting.

[DJ RaYz @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:48PM]

What happens when you have sex?

[Jono Cono @ Jul 3rd 2006 7:49PM]

Six years spent designing this thing...don't people have better things to do?

[Coexed @ Jul 3rd 2006 8:01PM]

Has anyone ever read Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut... the main character invested in a company that made magnetic furniture, but when ever you would touch it, it would shoot across the room. Oh how fun it would be... dodgeball with couches.

[Sam @ Jul 3rd 2006 8:04PM]

According to Einstein's relativity theory, this $1.5million magnet will possibly bend the light and slow down your thoughts! Laying on the bed you will perceive your friends or your visitors around you not only as genious, but fast moving too like in a Charly Chaplin's movie! Ok, you might see them a bit ..bended too! For these effects it might worth the money!

[Ian @ Jul 3rd 2006 8:10PM]

Wow, first thought that came to my mind when I saw that was, "My god... Its full of stars..."

[PMX @ Jul 3rd 2006 8:35PM]

"Ruijssenaars was also showing off a smaller version at the Miljonaire fair in Kortrijk that goes for a more affordable $146,000; at 1/5th the size of the regular model, it's much too small for you to sleep in, but it would sure make a great perch for your already-spoiled dog or cat."

...or a Back to the Future 2-like hoverboard! Sure, as mentioned in the movie it wouldn't work over water without some 'extras'. Or in this case, over pavement, grass or... well... anything other than a same polarity magnet :P

[zed @ Jul 3rd 2006 8:50PM]

"Lower the bed please, HAL", "I'm sorry, I Can't do that dave." "I can't allow you to endanger the mission Dave"

[locknroll @ Jul 3rd 2006 9:58PM]

Definitely on my list of things to buy when I become a multi billionaire. Don't know how safe it is but it looks seriously cool for bragging rights. Imagine if the chick that comes with it floated too- Haha