Everything You Need To Know About The Hive-Inn

Published April 27, 2014
Updated December 12, 2022

Concept designs of the Hive-Inn have people excited. According to designers from Hong Kong-based OVA studio, the innovative hotel is 100 percent sustainable

Hive-Inn Hotel

Maybe you’ve seen the design plan for Hive-Inn, a spectacular hotel that will be made from shipping containers in a Jenga-like puzzle. Here’s everything you need to know about the innovative design.

1. Hive-Inn Was Designed With Sustainability In Mind

Hive-Inn’s structure is unique, to say the least. Built from recycled shipping containers that can be removed, inserted or rearranged, the proposed Hive-Inn design embodies a building with complete flexibility.

New Innovative Hotel Design

Source: Morfae

2. The New Hotel Designs Embrace The Shipping Container Trend

Like it or not, recycled shipping containers are hot right now. They can be used to make micro-homes, and have been considered as a method for providing housing to poor, overpopulated parts of the world. For designs like Hive-Inn, the shipping containers’ accessibility and uniform size are both key. Otherwise, it would be impossible–physically and financially–to construct such a building.

Advertising Shipping Containers

3. The Specific Design Elements Have A Lot Of Potential

While Hive-Inn was designed as a hotel, forward-thinking individuals are already considering other possibilities that this structure might offer. For instance, imagine if apartment buildings–not just hotels–were stacked and placed in this way.

Because of the shipping container’s uniformity, individuals could purchase a shipping container “apartment” and “move in” simply by having their container placed in a given lot.

When it comes time to move, instead of abandoning the space, he or she could just have it removed from the structure and sent to a new Hive-Inn-inspired complex. Whether these design elements are used for offices, apartments or homes, the transformative potential is endless.

Removable Shipping Containers

Source: Morfae

Design Plans for Innovative Hotel

4. Hive-Inn Was Designed With Money In Mind

Yes, these blueprints are meant to create a functional hotel, but this building was also designed as a way for advertisers to make some extra dough. Hive-Inn designers reason that given the hotel’s novelty, brands would be incentivized to pay to design and brand individual shipping containers. This would greatly increase revenue for the hotel, all while keeping guest rates low.

Ferrari-Branded Interior Design

Source: Morfae

5. The Architects At OVA Studio Are Awesome

The people behind Hive-Inn hail from OVA Studio, a multidisciplinary design office located in Hong Kong. The firm specializes in architecture, interior design, master planning and product design. They are committed to creating sustainable, innovative designs, and have many important companies from Hong Kong as clients.

Blueprints for Hive-Inn Hotel

Source: Design Boom

author
Kiri Picone
author
Kiri Picone holds a B.A. in English and creative writing from Pepperdine University and has been writing for various digital publishers for more than 10 years.
editor
Savannah Cox
editor
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.