If your idea for the perfect vacation is to spend a week in a potato or a shoe – or for that matter a flying saucer – then you may be a good fit for a new competition by Airbnb. The online marketplace is spending US$1 million to fund the wildest new home ideas from around the globe.
The Unique Airbnb Fund was launched by Airbnb to find and finance the creation of what it deems "the most unconventional and unusual liveable spaces on the planet."
Proposals can be submitted by anyone with an idea, not just designers and architects, until April 15 and prize winners will be declared on May 15. Submissions will be scored for creativity, sustainability, feasibility, and "social good," so something that's built from recycled materials and runs from solar panels would be a good start. After builds have been completed, all winners will be required to make the space exclusively available on the Airbnb platform for at least 12 months.
A total of 10 winners will be selected by a panel consisting of an MVRDV representative, Kristie Wolfe, and the actor Billy Porter. Each winner will receive $100,000, which should help towards turning your wild idea of building a UFO-shaped hotel into a reality – actually that one's already been built, so you'd better come up with something really different.
If you're looking for inspiration, Airbnb has gathered together some examples of weird and wonderful homes, which you can check out in the gallery. These include Kristie Wolfe's potato hotel, a duck's head-shaped abode, a large retreat that looks like a snake and an Apollo 11-themed getaway.
Source: Airbnb
