Imagine you are Vancouver. Or Beijing. You have this obscure little event called the Olympics to host. There will be a short term high volume burst of people coming. Or you’re hosting a conference that regularly outstrips the available hotel capacity of the city you host it in, producing frustration, high costs, and long commutes for those having to stay out of town.
What do you do? Build more hotels? That’s one solution, but what about the rest of the year, when there is a lower, more typical demand, and you’re left with capacity far exceeding needs, and resources were used to build these hotels that could have been used elsewhere?
Abilmo, a French company, has a possible solution: They make foldable hotel rooms. Come again? Yes, they have been able to fabricate accommodations that can be set up, without a crane, as many as 25 erected in a day. And they’re not shabby, either. Wood floors, furniture, sound and weather insulated, personal climate control, with all the bathroom needs of a conventional hotel room included. In the space of just under 40 square feet. And quickly removable once they’re not needed.
Exceeding what a typical hotel could offer, these temporary rooms can be customized with graphics. Can we say sponsored accommodations, zeroing out event holder’s cost? For those in need of less elaborate shelter, during a festival, there are other options available, such as the MyHab recyclable structures that are many steps above a muddy tent, stylishly done and well priced.
Shelter need not be overpriced, unavailable, or wasting resources needed elsewhere. “Just in time” shelter is an idea whose time has come.
Readers: What are other examples of how to sustainably manage temporary events that you know of?
Related Posts:
Fuel For Your Entrepreneurial Brain : Ecopreneurist
Eco-Effective Option: Stay in an Airbed & Breakfast : Green Options
Summer Travel Turns up the (Global) Heat : CleanTechnica