Pop-Up Hotels to Fill Manhattan's Empty Offices

Empty offices could be transformed into chic accommodation, thanks to Pink Cloud's Pop-Up Hotel.

Rescuing Midtown Manhattan from the anchor of empty office space while utilizing thriving tourism, the Copenhagen-based Pink Cloud have innovated New York office buildings, by transforming them into temporary hotels.

The Midtown Pop-Up Hotel isn't a place, as such, but a system using flat-pack modules to swiftly renovate vacant office space into stylish hospitality centres. The idea has already proved its worth - the Pop-Up Hotel won Hospitality Magazine's 2013 competition, Radical Innovations in Hospitality.

Empty office spaces are not just losses in business, but also in rent - hundreds or even thousands of dollars could be going down the drain each day. With an alarming 22 percent of New York's offices going vacant, this adds up to around 17 million square feet, worth in midtown Manhattan between $50 and $95 per square foot.

Pink Cloud's Pop-Up Hotels to Alleviate Empty Office Problem

But as businesses abandon their offices, New York's tourism is surging to record heights, with 52 million visitors per year. Often, these vacant offices are only short stroll away from popular tourist locations such as Central Park, Broadway and Times Square. This is the opportunity that Pink Cloud has seized, reasoning that these mice-tenanted places could be used for much better means.

The Pop-Up Hotel is comprised of similar-sized, pick-and-choose modules for custom layouts and flexibility. Designed to squeeze through an elevator door, each module has a standard US shipping pallet footprint, so 36 boxes can fit tidily onto a flatbed lorry.

For easy assembly, delivery and identification, the modules are colour and computer-coded. When unfolded, the modules create tubs, showers, toilets, basins, chairs, sofas, beds, partitions and other items, making up rooms extending from hostel bunks to deluxe suites.

Each hotel will be set up for four weeks before moving on to another office building, splitting the profits between owners and operators.

But don't expect to see one of the hotels "popping-up" in New York anytime soon - the inventors are still struggling with a number of problems, including practical engineering (such as supplying power and plumbing to the rooms), zoning restrictions and health and safety.

Image Copyright: Pink Cloud