These hotel rooms can be stacked on top of each other, swapped out for easy renovation and easily transported from one place to the next thanks to their modular design. From a shipping container hotel to floating hotel with detachable boat-like rooms, the 13 designs featured here are anything but stale and static.
Modular Bamboo Hotel
Using cheap and highly renewable bamboo as a sort of scaffolding, the ‘One with the Birds’ modular hotel concept by Penda stacks pyramid-shaped volumes high into the sky while barely making a mark on the ground below. The low-impact, tent-themed hotels would be easy and quick to reproduce and expand as necessary. Inspired by Native American tipis, the structures use X-shaped bamboo joints to hold horizontal bamboo rods in place, which support the flooring. Joints would be tied together with rope so the whole structure can be disassembled and reused in other projects.
Bayside Marina Hotel
Long, narrow two-story prefabricated cottages based on the form of the shipping container are grouped together along the seaside of Yokohama as the ‘Bayside Marina Hotel.’ The containers are staggered along the site to give each residence a different view. The units are fabricated in Thailand and transported to Japan, where they’re assembled on-site.
Botel Floating Hotel with Detachable Rooms
Ever wish you could detach your hotel room from the main building and move it somewhere else? With ‘Botel,’ not only can you do that, your hotel room is actually a boat. The concept by Ivan Filipovic enables guests to explore their surroundings autonomously while retaining access to all of the amenities provided by the core structure. Dock at the main part of the hotel to have dinner or go to a nightclub, or enjoy a little privacy in a separate area of the bay.
Shelf Hotel: Swappable Modules in a Frame
What if hotel rooms of various sizes, shapes and levels of luxury could simply be swapped out like objects on a shelf? The Shelf Hotel by 3Gatti, envisioned for Xian, China, sets little removable modules within a framework raised above ground level to preserve green space below. The modules would consist of hotels as well as homes and offices.
CitizenM Hotels
Now open in various cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Glasgow and London (pictured), CitizenM hotels provide affordable luxury by fitting compact yet comfortable rooms within a simple frame for an industrial, urban appearance. The shipping container-like rooms are stacked on top of each other like LEGOs and contain a king size bed, pod-like toilet, shower and sink as well as lighting and other functions controlled via iPad.
