Via Airbnb
Not content with leasing out your spare room, Airbnb has announced it is going to start designing and building houses in 2019.
The house-sharing platform – which has grabbed headlines for its role in stoking the housing affordability crisis – has tasked its experimental product development team Samara with delivering the project, dubbed Backyard.
‘The way buildings are made is outdated and generates a tremendous amount of waste,’ says Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. ‘To meet the demands of the future… the home needs to evolve.’
Backyard’s team of architects, robotics and mechanical engineers and policy experts will explore how new manufacturing technologies can be used to create sustainable dwellings while reducing waste sent to landfill. They’ll also investigate how homes can be future-proofed for ageing inhabitants.
Prototypes will go beyond ADUs and prefab tiny homes and are expected to roll out next year…
