Tag Archives: sustainable travel

This e-trike maintains the stability of a three-wheeler, but can lean into corners with the ease of a two-wheeler

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The Mean Lean Machine is an e-trike from the electric vehicle company Arcimoto that comes with three-wheel-direct-drive and world-class tilting technology.

The Oregon-based electric vehicle company Arcimoto has a mission to catalyze the shift from our current transportation system to a more sustainable one. In an effort to make this happen, the makers at Arcimoto boast a catalog of electric vehicles that are ultra-efficient and promise the right size and price.

While they’ve only released a few details, Arcimoto’s latest vehicle is enticing even in its early phases. The electric-leaning trike called Mean Lean Machine or MLM for short is making its rounds for its three-wheel direct-drive and world-class tilting technology.

Designer: Arcimoto

The exclusive release of minor details still shroud MLM in mystery, but the few details we have still manage to make the release worth its hype. Stocked with embedded technology that provides MLM with the best of both worlds, the e-trike offers the stability of a three-wheeled bike and the tilting capabilities of a two-wheeler.

No stranger to developing e-bikes with speeds upwards of 75 MPH and instant torque and acceleration, the MLM is similar to Arcimoto’s FUV, except MLM is paired with a set of pedals and a generator for drive by wire, offering speed control and stationary recharge. Fast charging is achieved through inverters and users can ride the e-trike in its stationary form while it’s charging in the same way users ride a Peloton.

Committed to a future of sustainable transportation, the designers behind MLM also made sure to develop the e-trike is as small a carbon footprint as possible. Speaking to this, Arcimoto founder and CEO Mark Frohnmayer describes, “The Mean Lean Machine reflects Arcimoto’s commitment to [pushing] the envelope of sustainable mobility. We started with the amazing three-wheel tilting technology developed by our Tilting Motor Works division and then packed the MLM with new cutting-edge electric vehicle features, including hub motors on all three corners and a pedal generator, in order to deliver a joyful experience unlike any other in the e-bike category.”

The post This e-trike maintains the stability of a three-wheeler, but can lean into corners with the ease of a two-wheeler first appeared on Yanko Design.

This micro hotel structured from repurposed sea freight containers is energy-efficient and modular for the modern traveler!

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My Home, from German architecture firm Containerwerk, is a line of temporary hotel living quarters constructed from recycled sea freight containers for an energy-efficient, affordable, and micro-sized escape for the modern traveler.

Modern design wears many faces. From smart micro-technology to DIY minimalist architecture, the design of tomorrow is changing. Shipping containers also seem to nod towards the future. Championing a new charge of contemporary hotel concepts and travel solutions, repurposed shipping containers have become the shell for travelers across the globe.

My Home, a solution-based hotel solution, was designed by Germany-based architecture firm Containerwerk to provide a line of temporary living quarters for the modern traveler. Comprising a line of 21 hotel modules in the guise of repurposed sea freight containers, My Home was conceptualized specifically to provide company employees with hotel accommodations that don’t skimp out on elevated design elements or maximal comfort.

Affordability and design elements that feel high-end are among today’s top criteria when it comes to hotels. Adding to that, the architects at Containerwerk note, “ Guests’ expectations in terms of design and comfort are rising, and at the same time, sustainable hotel concepts are in demand.”

Enter My Home–completed in February 2020, the energy-efficient modules that make up the line of repurposed shipping containers measure 26sqm and are kept warm during colder months through a patented, high-performance insulation method. Constructed to fit four people comfortably, each module contains enough room for a fully equipped kitchenette, private terrace, separate entrance, light-flooded dining, and working area.

Lined with solar panels and bolstered with locally-sourced timber building material, each module that makes up My Home is built on a commitment to sustainability and practicality.

The supplemental luxuries that outfit most hotels, such as daily room cleaning and freshening up of bed linens aren’t forgotten with My Home either. Containerwerk developer suggests, “It is important to me that every guest feels at home. The apartments offer a feel-good factor, privacy, and yet maximum flexibility.”

Designer: Containerwerk

In order to start and finish the My Home project from a sustainable vantage point, the shipping containers require little to no excavation during the construction process. 

For their versatile geometric shape, each repurposed shipping container becomes a stackable module that doubles the interior living space when put together.

An alternative anchoring process that involves welding allows each module to station to the floor with little alteration to the terrain’s original state. 

The post This micro hotel structured from repurposed sea freight containers is energy-efficient and modular for the modern traveler! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny pre-fab home can easily be relocated to any destination for that ultimate nomadic lifestyle

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Designed so that you can have a cabin in the woods, a house on the lake, or a property on the beach whenever you want, the Time Holiday is a mobile home that’s focused on what designer Chester Goh calls ‘futuristic sustainability… or basically architecture that’s nomadic, so you don’t need to build multiple homes.

While the term ‘futuristic sustainability’ definitely sounds like jargon, the idea of a mobile home really makes sense from an ecological and economical standpoint. The mobile home belongs solely to you and isn’t bound by a location. It gives you the freedom to constantly relocate, finding a suitable spot to park yourself and live in, so you’re not stuck in expensive cities, compartmentalized in tiny overpriced rental apartments, or heavily affected by natural calamities affecting your neighborhood.

Saving on total costs and unnecessary construction waste, these modular pods/villas come prefabricated and do not require any foundation. They’re built to be stable, spacious, and structurally sound, and can easily be lifted up and shifted anywhere on the planet without any limitations to terrains and topography. “Wanting to wake up to the morning of serene blue sea, lush green grassland, or a majestic golden dessert in a modular pod that is closely connected to nature has been the driving inspiration to this project”, says designer Chester Goh

The outer structure is fabricated from a single curved sheet of fiberglass, designed to withstand various topographies and climates. The front and side, however, constitute full-frame floor-to-ceiling double-layer laminated glass panels that provide extravagant 360-degree unobstructed views of the outdoors, while helping insulate the interiors. The entire structure is designed to telescopically expand/contract, allowing the house to assume a compact form in transit, and extend outwards to create larger spaces and an extra guest room. There’s even access to a terrace on the top, because what’s the point of shifting your home to a scenic spot if you can’t really absorb the area’s beauty from the roof of your mobile home? Glass of sangria not included!

The Time Holiday Mobile Home is a Gold Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2021.

Designer: Chester Goh

This modular camper design brings you closer to nature with sustainable travel and 360-degree windows!

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As a society, we are steadily leaning further and further into the world of sustainable traveling.  Especially following the years spent in quarantine, each and every one of us are itching to get back to nature. In addition to travelers, designers are getting on board too and coming up with sustainable travel solutions. As part of their commitment to environmental design, CE-ST, a young design studio, created Time Holiday Mobile Home, an A’Design Award-winning modular mobile home the size of a shipping container that can be transported to any terrain.

Whether our sustainability commitment means more camping trips and less flying, or packing up the house into an electric RV camper and living off the grid for a while, people are finding unique ways to travel with respect for the environment. Outfitted with solar panels, naturally ventilated windows, and built with recycled tiles, Time Holiday Mobile Home was designed to leave a reduced ecological footprint when traveling. Without the need for a foundation, Time Holiday can be stationed anywhere across the globe, atop varying terrains and topographies. Time Holiday’s flexibility for traveling allows for multiple pods to be stationed in one location, forming a sort of cluster or system of campers.

Built on a modular scheme, Time Holiday’s fiberglass roof, the modular pod’s exterior frame, is prefabricated in the studio’s factory before being transported to the campsite to be assembled there. Through a drawer, or pull-out method, the interior space of Time Holiday campers can be expanded or reduced, nearly doubling or halving the pod’s size. Inside Time Holiday, campers enjoy unobstructed, 360° views of the outdoors through the camper’s full-frame floor-to-ceiling double-layer laminated, insulating glass windows. Highlighted during the camper’s construction process and overall sustainability, bringing guests closer to nature was a top priority when designing Time Holiday.

Designer: CE-ST

Time Holiday’s exterior frame is constructed from a single piece of curved fiberglass in a factory to later attach to the pod onsite.

Due to Time Holiday’s flexibility with traveling, clusters of Time Holiday campers can be situated in one location.

Whether you see yourself catching early morning waves or sunsets over the pines, Time Holiday can take you there.

Inside, through a pull-out, drawer method, an extension can be added to Time Holiday to increase the interior space.

This sustainable suitcase uses 70% lesser parts & is easier to assemble/disassemble than IKEA furniture!

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The sustainable travel and eco-tourism industry is slowly seeing a boost as more people become aware of the consequences of their itineraries. But we need to dive a little deeper and see what are the smaller changes we can make to our travel essentials before we reach a point of “Should we fly economy class or in a private jet?”. Not-so-fun-fact: suitcases are not recyclable and end up in the landfill 9 out of 10 times. To combat this waste that stems from our love for traveling, a team of designers created RHITA – a suitcase that is super easy to assemble and disassemble which makes it easier to repair or recycle.

“Every year hundred thousand of discarded luggage caused by damaged wheels, handles, shells or shells that are deformed or damaged by collision, hard to be repaired or disassemble for recycling, bringing great impact to the environment. Hence, design for assembly and disassembly allows the suitcase easy to repair or recycle, reduced parts by simplifying the structure and minimized material used, downsize shipping volume to decrease carbon footprint boosting sustainability,” says the design team. RHITA’s simplified structure reduces the number of parts used in production by 70% when compared to traditional suitcases. Even the space needed for transportation has been reduced by 33%. It features an innovative hinge system and a unique installation method – no glue or rivet for fixation, no sewing of the inner lining, maximizing the space inside as well as a quick fasten and loosen wheel mechanism.

This revised form lets you purchase parts in the desired color for replacement or repair only what’s necessary instead of completely discarding the bag and buying a new one. When the suitcase’s life cycle comes to an end, recycling is not simple and this suitcase is designed for making the life of the product longer while our experience with it becomes more sustainable. When RHITA reaches the end of its usable life, it is easy to recycle and therefore adds another much-needed dimension to the sustainable travel industry.

“I appreciate this young designer’s determination to squarely face the challenges of today’s industrial design, such as recycling, sustainability, and efficient transportation, and to find the best answers for the future,” said the A’Design Award Competition’s jury. RHITA won the Silver A’Design Award in Sustainable Products, Projects, and Green Design Category, 2019 – 2020.

Designers: Jhen Jia Yang, Yun Cheng, and Chun Yu Pan

Travel to these sustainably designed hotels and staycations to enjoy an ecotourism style vacay!

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Ecotourism has become a growing trend, although I do hope it is here to stay. We all love taking vacations, and if we can integrate sustainability and a greener way of tourism into our holiday plans, then why not? In an attempt to encourage ecotourism, architects have been designing sustainable hotels and resorts! These holiday destinations provide all the facilities and amenities we require for a comfortable (luxurious even in the case of some) stay, while taking care of the local natural environment. We’ve curated a collection of exciting and enjoyable options – from a sustainable ring-shaped hotel in the Arctic circle to a bamboo resort in Bali! We hope this helps you make sustainable and eco-friendly travel plans in the future.

Snøhetta designed ‘Svart’, a sustainable ring-shaped hotel, tucked at the base of Norway’s Almlifjellet Mountain, in the Arctic Circle. The hotel promises to be ‘energy-positive’, which basically means it will produce and create more energy than it consumes! It also promises to consume 85 percent less energy as compared to other contemporary hotels, which can be achieved, owing to the hotel’s solar panels. Snøhetta attempted to design a sustainable hotel that would leave “a minimal environmental footprint on this beautiful northern nature.”

When most people think about living sustainably, they think it means sacrificing luxury but the Ulaman Eco-Retreat Resort made mostly from bamboo is here to show you that sustainability can be well integrated into luxury. Designed by Inspiral Architects, this eco-resort is located in Bali’s Kaba-Kaba village. It has been constructed using materials found directly on the site and the immediate locality which helped the resort become completely carbon zero. Apart from bamboo, rammed earth has been used for the resort‘s ground-level walls. Rammed earth is a wonderful green alternative to concrete which is responsible for more than 8% of the construction industry’s emissions which contributes to 30% of global greenhouse emissions.

This Eco-Floating Hotel in Qatar is raising the bar for eco-friendly travel and tourism! Powered by wind + solar energy it also features tidal sustainability mechanisms and a revolving restaurant to give you ALL the best views. Designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio (HAADS), the hotel would span over 35,000 sq m (376,000 sq ft) and house 152 rooms. The giant glass donut-shaped structure has a lush green cover integrated into its exterior and a mesmerizing indoor waterfall with a huge vortex-like glass roof. Sustainability is at the core of this project and all of the design details are centered around it. The vortex shape of the roof will actually be used to collect rainwater for irrigation and more while solar panels + wind turbines will provide clean energy. Even the water current will be harnessed with a tidal energy system so when the hotel turns it can produce power similar to a dynamo. The hotel also intends to purify seawater and treat the wastewater it produces so it doesn’t harm the environment. Speaking of waste management, the team aims to develop waste separation units for efficiency and to use them as fertilizer in the landscape for the recycling of substances such as food waste.

The Lilypad is a luxury villa designed by Chuck Anderson and is anchored just north of Sydney’s Palm Beach. Anderson is a boat enthusiast so it is no surprise that he created a floating house! This beautiful Airbnb is also eco-conscious, it is completely solar-powered and is slowly helping us pivot towards sustainable travel. The exterior of the house is made from timber and includes an open living area, a wine cellar, a sleeping loft, and, of course, a bathroom (for all that wine that we will consume post quarantine on our holiday!). To feel fancy, you have an al fresco dining (means you can eat your food while enjoying the breeze and sun when going outside is cool again) and sunbathing area on the lower level which also boasts of an expansive terrace.

E-glamp is a product/service that has been designed to boost economic and tourist development in rural areas. Think of it as an Airbnb-style tiny house merged with a biking network like Bird or Lime. It is an integrated system of modern cabins that are all independently powered by solar panels. These tiny homes are also fitted with smart tech and are connected to the e-bike system which encourages carbon-neutral exploration of the landscape. Biking not only helps to maintain the pristine air quality of the rural area but also helps in getting an enjoyable workout in. All the E-glamp houses are modular, movable, and constructed with sustainable materials like timber. Along with solar panels, it will be interesting to see how the design is able to also repurpose and reuse rainwater for the guest’s needs.

Get ready to take a beautiful virtual tour of the O2 Treehouse by Treewalkers that blend the best of our childhood imagination with glamping reality while keeping it all an eco-friendly experience! Treewalkers is one of the leading players in the world of treetop construction – they actually make treehouses that adults cannot reason out of. The treehouses have unique geodesic domes and can be connected to create entire villages. The houses are modular so it enables franchisees to start their own village setups with one or more units – this can be a sustainable hotel, unusual Airbnb getaway, or simply a camping site that offers a different kind of stay.

Nestled in the wilderness of British Columbia, Nimmo Bay gives you the best of Candian scenery with soaring pine trees and beautiful lakes. One of the most interesting parts of the resort is a floating cedar sauna — a serene, meditative cabin that can be used as a personal wellness space or as a room for group yoga classes. To reach the wooden spa you have to take a kayak or a canoe. The floating wooden platform holds the cabin on one end and an intimate socialization area, picnic table, and tub can on the other end. The love for nature goes beyond the location, Nimmo Bay also focuses on building a sustainable community. “From the beginning, the Murray family has strived to create and share their dream of living off the land, while minimizing their footprint on the environment itself. That’s why you’ll find landmark innovations like our hydropower system fueled by streams and waterfalls, providing clean drinking water and up to 80% of our resort’s power needs, as well as floating docks in lieu of deforested land,” says the team.

The Red Sea Project is a luxury retreat that is being built as part of a large-scale infrastructure focused on renewable energy, water conservation, and re-using resources to minimize waste. “The best location for the water buildings was chosen through accurate bathymetry investigation, biodiversity studies, and marine engineering studies, in an attempt to prevent any damage to the coral reef and avoiding interfering with the sea currents,” explained the team at Kengo Kuma & Associates. The grand plan even includes a special airport designed by Foster + Partners exclusively for this destination! The first phase of construction is set to be completed soon and a part of the resort will open in 2022 which will have five developed islands as well as two inland sites. By 2030, the destination will be complete with 22 islands and six inland sites. The Japanese architecture studio has taken all measures in their design to respectful of the extreme environmental sensitivity of the region by choosing a light-touch approach that will have the least detrimental impact on the rich biodiversity of the islands.

Designed by H2, the Saigon Thuong Mai Hotel in Vinh, Vietnam was rebuilt from a pre-existing hotel. The new hotel has been built using sustainable materials! In fact, architects from H2 worked with locals to understand and utilize locally available materials. Reclaimed wood was used to primarily build the hotel. Local wood from local joinery stores was used to create little wooden pillars, these pillars were then merged with iron frames to build the base modules for the hotel. A beautiful wooden facade was created, which allowed natural light to stream effortlessly into the building, and also encouraged natural wind and ventilation.

In an effort to encourage eco-tourism, In-tenta design created ‘DROP box N-240’ – a low-impact little hotel suite in a resort, located in a quaint little Spanish village. It’s an innovative and sustainable vacation option for people who want to relax and rejuvenate, without stressing out the environment. It occupies a very small portion of land, while also featuring all the amenities required for a comfortable stay. Placed on a sloped terrain, the tiny suite creates a very minimal impact upon the site.

This solar-powered tiny house has an integrated e-bike system to boost sustainable local tourism!

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E-glamp is a product/service that has been designed to boost economic and tourist development in rural areas. Think of it as an Airbnb-style tiny house merged with a biking network like Bird or Lime. It is an integrated system of modern cabins that are all independently powered by solar panels. These tiny homes are also fitted with smart tech and are connected to the e-bike system which encourages carbon-neutral exploration of the landscape. Biking not only helps to maintain the pristine air quality of the rural area but also helps in getting an enjoyable workout in. All the E-glamp houses are modular, movable, and constructed with sustainable materials like timber. Along with solar panels, it will be interesting to see how the design is able to also repurpose and reuse rainwater for the guest’s needs.

The smart cabin system comes with its own app that lets you manage your experience right from booking the accommodation and checking in to discovering nearby trails as well as keeping your bikes charged. E-glamp was created to take advantage of experiential tourism and promote underrated local gems like vineries, farms, and hill stations that often go unnoticed because tourists only flock to famous big cities. As we all still wait for the pandemic to slowly fade and border restrictions to ease, this is a wonderful new way to boost local tourism and create travel bubbles while maintaining social distance. E-glamp gives sustainable tourism a smart upgrade and has also been nominated for the Green Concept Awards 2021!

Designer: E-glamp

This solar-powered luxury resort has 100 sustainably designed villas spread over 90 islands that boost eco-toursim!

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Nothing will stop me from dreaming about endlessly traveling the world again. So I am building out a 10 year travel plan to make up for this pandemic and I am adding the Red Sea Project by Kengo Kuma & Associates to it – who wouldn’t want to spend time in an oasis of luxury villas in Saudi Arabia? The project was commissioned by the Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) hence the name of the resort and it aims to set new standards in sustainable development while making its mark as a global tourism destination.

This ambitious resort will span over 90 currently undeveloped islands between the cities of Umluj and Al Wajh on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. There will be 100 spacious villas on the Ummahat Al Shaykh Island with low-rise curved roofs and curvilinear facades that change based on whether the villa is built on land or over water. Due to the relatively flat terrain of the island, the team recommended a design that would work with low, horizontal volumes and therefore the gently curves the roof find a harmonious relationship with the ground. The land villas emulate the sand dunes while the ones on the water called coral villas showcase a spiraled form that offers 360-degree-views of the sea. The team also designed two specialty restaurants, one on land and one over water that will have a curved, shell-like canopy, as well as a community building, a spa, a reception pavilion, housekeeping villas, and a guest jetty.

The Tokyo-based architecture studio is all about embracing the natural setting and drawing inspiration from the existing landscape as well as the rich heritage of the region. The natural setting compliments the architectural language and frames the buildings with artificial sand dunes and locally sourced vegetation. “Our design for the island buildings was inspired by the beautifully natural occurring elements of the island. The relatively flat terrain of the island suggested a design that works with low, horizontal volumes and that we should look to gently curve the roof of the buildings to find a harmonious relationship with the ground,” said the team at Kengo Kuma & Associates. The studio chose to use salt-resistant Accoya wood, suitable for the saline-high environment, and clay plaster for their designs.

Meanwhile, TRSDC is developing a range of policies that focus on zero-waste-to-landfill, zero discharge to the sea, and zero single-use plastics. The company has also made a commitment to achieve 100% carbon neutrality as they want to boost the eco-tourism industry using the Red Sea Project. The villas and all their surrounding structures will run completely on renewable energy without being dependent on the national grid – a decision supported by the leadership of the Kingdom as it encourages a balanced development of their pristine local area and entices international tourists to visit places outside the famous cities. The teams decided to minimize the use of concrete as it contributes 8% to the world’s carbon emissions. They will facilitate offsite manufacturing to reduce construction timeframes and waste. “The remote and pristine site suggested the use of prefabrication systems. We are using a mix of volumetric and panelized prefabrication,” added the team.

The Red Sea Project is a luxury retreat that is being built as part of a large-scale infrastructure focused on renewable energy, water conservation, and re-using resources to minimize waste. “The best location for the water buildings was chosen through accurate bathymetry investigation, biodiversity studies, and marine engineering studies, in an attempt to prevent any damage to the coral reef and avoiding interfering with the sea currents,” explained the team at Kengo Kuma & Associates. The grand plan even includes a special airport designed by Foster + Partners exclusively for this destination! The first phase of construction is set to be completed soon and a part of the resort will open in 2022 which will have five developed islands as well as two inland sites. By 2030, the destination will be complete with 22 islands and six inland sites. The Japanese architecture studio has taken all measures in their design to respectful of the extreme environmental sensitivity of the region by choosing a light-touch approach that will have the least detrimental impact on the rich biodiversity of the islands.

Designer: Kengo Kuma & Associates

This sustainable “vertiport” powered by photovoltaic panels will use air taxis to boost eco-tourism!

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It is 2021 and for some weird reason when we entered the 2000s we all dreamed now would be when we would have flying cars or “air taxis” if you want to make it sound more realistic. However, there is one thing we didn’t include in our imaginative stories, these flying cars or air taxis will pick us up and also land in specific places only unlike Uber or Lyft that comes right outside your door. Keeping the future and these logistical details in mind, Chinese air mobility company EHang announced plans for a “vertiport” in Italy called Baobab designed by Giancarlo Zema Design Group (GZDG). Baobab will be an innovative eco-sustainable vertiport that produces energy and recharge the drones wirelessly!

EHang is developing an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) vehicle which will be capable of picking up one to two passengers (initial model) then autonomously flying them to their destination. It is actually not a distant dream, EHang has actually already delivered 40 functioning air taxis to customers for testing, training, and demonstration purposes. So the company joined hands with GZDG to build a vertiport that has been inspired by the African baobab tree. The 30-meter-tall (98-ft) tower will have 360-degree windows and will be constructed from steel + laminated wood. The passengers will take an elevator to the platform for takeoff and landing on the roof terrace. Below the terrace, there is a waiting room as well as a 200 sq m (2,153 sq ft) panoramic restaurant that will offer views of the lush landscape. The vertiport will feature several photovoltaic panels that will generate over 300 kilowatts of power per day. On the roof, there are green areas with seats and three landing areas for electric drones that are recharged wirelessly from the landing pad floor which will feature some of the non-slip photovoltaic panels integrated with LED lights for night lighting and signage.  Baobab, the three independent plug-and-play charging stations, and two-passenger EH216 eVTOLs will run on the power provided by clean energy.

Baobab is a vertiport designed with the intention of boosting the eco-tourism industry – air taxis will pick passengers up at the tower and take them on sightseeing tours of the surrounding countryside. While the exact location for this project is yet to be announced, the EHang is already working on additional structures for Europe and Southeast Asia.

Designer:Giancarlo Zema Design Group

This sustainable RV features solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems, cork flooring & a green roof!

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ERA Architects is an innovative studio in Barcelona championing sustainable tourism with its Pinea Mobile Ecological RV! The RV uses natural and sustainable materials in its construction along with other eco-friendly features like solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems. Currently, Pinea is a prototype currently located in Mas els Igols retreat in the Penedés winery region of Spain – I, for one, would never move it from there but you can. Eco-tourism is already looking great!

The prototype uses built-in systems for solar energy and rainwater harvesting but what makes it special is its unique green roof. It includes a single solar panel that produces up to 50W retained in a battery to use for charging smartphones and lighting inside the RV. ERA Architect’s design team also mentioned the battery system manufacturer in France gives a percentage of sales to a nonprofit in Africa. The architects sourced different elements for the prototype from different local regions like the green roof is from, the textile manufacturer is from Barcelona, and the metal works have come from Lleida. Pinea also features a specialized system of trays that harvest rainwater for the green roof which is thriving Catalonian vegetation and substrate. This system can hold up to 100 liters of water at a time!

Pinea’s exterior fabric can be unzipped to let in the fresh air and sunlight or rolled up for privacy. The fabric is made in Catalonia using a water-saving dying process and is breathable water-repellent material. Now for the most concerning part about camping – mosquitos – the Pinea RV comes with a built-in mosquito net to keep you safe at all times. The RV comes with a large bed, a table, chairs, and some storage furniture crafted from certified wood (same as the one used to make the walls) and sustainable cork material. Another unique thing about this RV is its cork flooring! The designers also chose to use cork stoppers instead of isolation gravel on the green roof. The team’s aim was to design a self-sufficient eco-suite on wheels and they absolutely came through with the Pinea Mobile Ecological RV!

Designer: ERA Architects