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Airbnb is a Trip for Architecture Lovers

Kubuswoningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Kubuswoningen in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The idea was simple: Give people the opportunity to rent private residences around the world at a nightly rate. Wouldn’t travelers jump at the chance to stay someplace cozy, someplace with a kitchen, someplace, perhaps, cheaper than a hotel would be in the same city?

Start-up success story Airbnb, founded in 2008, capitalized on this market and proved every one of those assumptions absolutely correct. They also uncovered a previously unanticipated perk of their private-owner-to-private-traveler model: It can be a design-lover’s dream!

Architectural Digest posted on this recently, pointing out that the Airbnb “fairy tale has an especially happy ending for design aficionados. At the same time that the company’s founders… have delivered a radical jolt to the travel industry, they have also unlocked a previously inaccessible world of inspiration to architecture buffs around the globe.”

The spectrum of home-types available for rent on the Airbnb site stretches farther than you’d expect, from yurts to Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes to igloos to penthouse apartments. This means anyone with an open weekend and the desire to immerse himself in a spectacularly designed home can do it for a price.

Check out a slideshow of Airbnb’s most drool-worthy spaces for rent around the world. Happy Trails!