Airbnb has built a community
building that will be used to house incoming guests in the Japanese village of
Yoshino this fall, marking the first project of its kind from the peer-to-peer
accommodations service.
Yoshino Cedar House includes a
ground-floor community center and second-floor accommodations for as many as
six people. Airbnb, which stopped short of calling the project a hotel, will
make the house bookable via its website starting this fall. The village will
own and operate the building, though Airbnb will take a typical commission from
bookings.
The building is the first project
of a “design studio” Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia is launching called Samara
(which is named after a seedling). Yoshino Cedar House was designed in
collaboration with Tokyo-based architect Go Hasegawa, and was completed late
last month as part of the Kenya Hara’s House Vision exhibition in Tokyo. The
structure will be transported to Yoshino starting later this month.
“The mission of this new internal
design studio is to develop services and ideas that extend Airbnb’s values and
vision into new areas,” the company said in a statement. “Proceeds
earned from guests who visit will be used to strengthen the cultural legacy and
future of the area, which has struggled as younger generations migrate away
from rural towns.”
Airbnb didn’t disclose further
information about future locales under the Samara project.