In praise of the four-poster canopy bed

A visit to the V&A reminds me of a lesson we can learn from the past

The Great Bed of Ware at the V&A/ Lloyd Alter

The Great Bed of Ware is huge; it seemed almost as big as a studio apartment in the Isokon building. The famous bed has moved around a lot since 1590, ending up at the Victoria and Albert Museum. At ten feet by twelve feet it is not the size of an apartment, but it is certainly bigger than many bedrooms.

While admiring it, I thought of architect Susan Roaf’s comments in a recent Zero Ambitions podcast, in which she suggested that in these times of temperature extremes, we should think about energy sufficiency- how much space should we heat and cool? Can we get by with heating or cooling small areas of our homes, say one room, for when conditions are dangerously extreme?

This is, in essence, what the four-poster or canopy bed did; its heavy curtains created a warm and toasty micro-climate inside the insulating curtains. I once proposed this for a New York apartment where the owner couldn’t sleep without air conditioning; I suggested a tiny AC unit like they use in parking kiosks and RVs on top, and even souced a totally silent Peltier cooler; if you are cooling a tiny space you can get a tiny air conditioner.

The Arts of the Middle Ages/ Paul Lacroix Jacob

It also provided privacy; As Paul Lacroix Jacob wrote in his 1870 book "The Arts in The Middle Ages and at the Period of The Renaissance": "The bed, which usually stood in a corner, surrounded by thick curtains, was effectually screened, and formed what was then called a clotet; that is, a sort of small room enclosed by tapestry."

Melissa Snell wrote in Thoughtco that rooms often were shared:

"Though lords and ladies had their bed(s) to themselves, attendants might share the room for convenience and security. For the sake of warmth as well as privacy, the lord's bed was curtained, and his attendants slept on simple pallets on the floor, on trundle beds, or on benches."

There are modern versions, like this Italian job from HiCan I wrote about a few years ago that integrates lighting, entertainment systems, health monitors, and smart alarms. "HiAm, the new hi-tech four-poster bed, is a real oasis of rest and well-being in which to rediscover the true meaning of leisure, and is intended as a primary source of creativity for an individual’s personal realization," notes the company. There is even a "refined fragrance diffuser for personalized moments of relaxation — all activated through a native iOS app."

My sharing-adverse spouse Kelly will particularly appreciate how it will connect with Alexa or Siri or our new AI overlords.

"The brand's modern four-poster bed will also be able to collect data on sleep conditions and the environment. The sensors’ many functions include detecting any ambient noises that could disturb your sleep, and identifying the ideal temperature for achieving optimum rest."

All kidding aside, and minus all the apps and fragrance dispensers, tempering small spaces instead of big ones uses a lot less energy and stuff. The basic principles of the canopy bed still make sense; our bodies are little furnaces that can keep it warm and it wouldn’t take much energy to keep it cool, and it wouldn’t take very big filters to keep the air in it clean and fresh. The modern four-poster could be a little oasis of comfort, where we could party like it’s 1599.

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My respite in London is almost over, and I will be on the rails to Belgium and then Austria, so my postings over the next two weeks will likely be even more erratic and as I approach the International Passivhaus Conference in Innsbruck, more Passivhaus-centric.