New York City residents could have a stylish and safe place to live in less than 15 hours after a catastrophic natural or manmade disaster with these modular ‘pop-up’ apartments. Developed by Garrison Architects for the NYC Office of Emergency Management, the Urban Post Disaster Housing Prototype makes it easy to create compact multi-story, multi-family dwellings on demand.

Each individual unit is self-contained and can host families of various sizes, expanding from a one bedroom up to a three bedroom. Prefabricated in Indiana, the units also feature a living room, bathroom, fully-equipped kitchen, storage space and balcony. Multiple units can be stacked vertically or set side-by-side in a variety of urban settings, from vacant lots to public spaces.

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy made it clear that fast, safe, durable housing is critical once the immediate danger of a disaster has passed. The result of over 6 years of research into emergency housing by by the City of New York, this design allows residents to remain in their communities instead of being whisked away to shelters for months at a time.

The units were designed to meet the strictest zoning requirements in the United States so they can be quickly deployed to any location in the country within hours. A total of 5 modules were created for the prototype, which will remain on the corner of Cadman Plaza East and Red Cross Place for up to two years. Guests will be invited to stay in the units for five-day intervals to see just how comfortable these housing units can be.

Do you want to spend a night on a river bank, a cliff, a meadow or a busy urban street? The ‘Sleeping Around’ pop-up hotel concept can go virtually anywhere you like, setting up quickly in locations where static architecture isn’t possible or practical. Made from four recycled 1950s shipping containers, this traveling hotel opens up possibilities for travelers who want more than just a night of comfort.

Sleeping Around consists of six shipping containers – four are individual hotel rooms, one serves as a sauna and the sixth is a breakfast and lounge area. Each of the hotel rooms has a floating bed, spacious rain shower, iPod docking station and air conditioning system.

The hotel has already spent a few weeks on the banks of the Scheldt in Antwerp, where the containers were procured, and is now on the move. Travelers interested in staying there can track its location on the website, and put in requests for future spots. It can be set up and ready to go within five hours of arriving.

This hotel may not be quite as mobile as the super-compact Hotello, which is basically a self-contained hotel room setup in a wheeled trunk, but it opens intriguing possibilities for the future of travel accommodations. If you could choose any location to set up a temporary hotel, where would it be?

Cities all around the world have vast, empty spaces just going to waste – abandoned buildings, empty lots, decommissioned military barracks – but the Hotello wants to put those spaces to use. The Hotello is a tiny, portable hotel room that can go anywhere and provide a comfortable sleeping space no matter where you are.

Designed by Antonio Scarponi and Robert de Luca for the Swiss firm daskonzept, the Hotello starts out as a rather nondescript wheeled trunk. It does the seemingly impossible by packing an entire 4 square meters room into a surprisingly small area – bed, desk, wardrobe and all.

Thanks to its wheels, the Hotello can be taken almost anywhere. You can set up the room in a matter of minutes by folding out the bed and setting up the metal structure that supports the sound absorbent privacy curtain. A small work space and stool let you catch up on work before bedtime, and the trunk itself acts as a storage area for clothing or other objects.

Several Hotellos could be placed together to create unique configurations if desired, but a single unit is perfect for the business traveler who simply needs a place to lie down for several hours before work starts again in the morning. Since the portable hotel room doesn’t come with a bathroom, though, it would be wise to plunk the Hotello down in a place near some public facilities.

Looking beyond the most obvious uses of the Hotello, though, it is clear that a solution like this would be ideal for housing victims of natural disaster. Similar, though hopefully more modest and cost-effective, solutions could be used to house homeless populations in otherwise-abandoned buildings. But of course, part of the project’s appeal is the idea that you can travel around the world with nothing  but a suitcase and a red trunk on wheels and always have a comfortable place to sleep at night.