Nachtfalter

In the garden of Schloss Freudenberg in Wiesbaden, a new addition has recently appeared: the Nachtfalter, a minimally invasive sleeping spot for nature-based travel with light luggage. It's a response to changing nature tourism: traveling light instead of with full camping gear, close to the landscape rather than built into it.

The timber-frame construction with a textile sleeping surface minimizes contact with the ground — what's being protected here is less the sleeper than what grows beneath. The movable roof and wall elements allow an unobstructed view of the stars on summer nights.

It was developed by product designers in cooperation with the UNESCO Rhön Biosphere Reserve, where the first prototype has already been tested at the Fuldaer Haus since 2024. As part of WDC 2026, it can now also be discovered at Schloss Freudenberg — a place where touching and trying things out are explicitly part of the concept. If you would like to learn more about the project, you're welcome to get in touch with the initiators: hello@nachtfalter.design