Airbnb to build homes for the future with Backyard

Airbnb will design and build sustainable, smart homes for the future in its new initiative Backyard. The project has been launched by Airbnb’s internal design studio Samara, its co-founder Joe Gebbia announced. Backyard will use modern manufacturing techniques, smart home technologies and insight from its hosts to create adaptable green homes with a waste-conscious design. It is expecting to deliver prototype units for testing by autumn 2019. Gebbia said: “With Backyard, we’re using the same lens through which Airbnb was envisioned – the potential of space – and applying it more broadly to architecture and construction. “What does a home that is designed and built for sharing actually look and feel like? The answer is not simple at all,” he added. Airbnb will use learnings from the ways in which its hosts modify their homes for guests to instruct its new housebuilding venture. This means specifically looking at how homes can accommodate the needs of multiple occupants in a long-term, sustainable way. “The way buildings are made is outdated and generates a tremendous amount of waste,” said Gebbia. “In order to meet the demands of the future, whether it be climate displacement or rural-urban migration, the home needs to evolve, to think forward.” The Backyard team has evaluated existing construction solutions, from eco-friendly building materials to fully prefabricated homes. “Simply put, nothing addressed long-term adaptability from a systemic perspective,” said project lead Fedor Novikov. “The only way to close the gap was to work from first principles and imagine entirely new approaches for building homes.” Samara launched in 2016 with a focus on projects including architecture, service design and software engineering. It created its first house of the future in partnership with Japanese architect Go Hasegawa for Kenya Hara’s House Vision exhibition in Tokyo, which was permanently installed in Yoshino and bookable via its rental platform. Since 2017 the team has hired industrial and interaction designers, architects, roboticists, mechanical and hardware engineers, material specialists and policy experts to focus on Backyard. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette