Currently perched atop the Avoriaz Mountain in France so guests can flip from their beds straight onto the ski slopes, this traveling minimalist hotel made of shipping containers signals a new nomadic future for comfortable accommodations. Instead of housing attendees in tents, events in far-flung locales can now offer all the comfort of an urban hotel – including private bathrooms.

The Flying Nest by French designer Ora-ïto made its debut on the consumer market this winter at the Avoriaz Ski Resort after nearly two years of road testing. In March 2017, a prototype was placed just steps away from the fields where France’s national football team trains, and then it travelled to the 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car race, the Rencontres d’Arles photography festival and the Agora biennial art festival in Bordeaux.

Each of the shipping containers is lined with warm wood inside and out, all sourced from certified forests, for a clean, neutral and natural appearance. Measuring 130 square feet, the units offer a living area, bathroom and a white linen bed tucked beside a picture window for views of the location du jour as well as air conditioning and wi-fi. The containers stack on top of each other into “islands” of six, connected by terraces to encourage intermingling of guests.

The project aims to offer “unique hospitality experiences during outstanding events and to meet accommodation needs where hotel capacity is at its saturation point.” Since the hotel is totally self-contained, providing its own utilities, it can be placed virtually anywhere that can be accessed by trucks, cranes or helicopters, from deserts and beaches to mountaintops, without making a significant impact on the site.

The phrase ‘Trainspotting Hotel’ probably doesn’t conjure visions of a cozy, comfortable and safe place to lay your head at night, but this hotel gets its nickname from its location overlooking rail tracks rather than anything relating to the heroin-charged cult classic film. Obviously, that’s a good thing for guests who want to enjoy a peaceful getaway on the Elbe River near the town of Litomerice, Czech Republic at this unusual pop-up structure by Artikul Architects. 

The hotel is comprised of just three shipping containers, with one forty-foot crate stacked atop two twenty-foot crates in a perpendicular arrangement to create a covered space underneath. The two ground-floor containers house the bathrooms, storage and one of the guest rooms, while four more guest accommodations are set into the top layer.

The client commissioned Artikul to produce a modular design that can be easily taken apart and moved when desired, and would have a light footprint on the land. The hotel has its own built-in water reservoir for the showers and sinks, and utilizes waterless toilets, and the bedrooms are compact but warm and welcoming, fitted with bunk beds and lined with birch plywood.

Artikul is known for producing sustainable structures, so it’s no surprise that they did something creative using recycled and natural materials. Barely any modification to the containers was necessary, preserving the ability to load them onto a truck. The top container is sheathed in reclaimed wood and features a terrace and awning so guests can hang out in the open air and enjoy the views.