American prefabricated shelter company Jupe has launched its travel pod, a temporary flat-pack cabin with birch wood floors and a metal structure that lights up at night.
Jupe’s geometric capsules, named after the planet Jupiter, are intended to be a futuristic alternative to traditional glamping tents and yurts.
Jupe’s design team, whose credentials include working for the Airbnb rental platform, electric car makers Tesla and rocket makers Space X, decided to make a science fiction-style product inspired by space travel.
“We used ideas that inspired and enthused us,” said Jupe co-founder and micro-home entrepreneur Jeff Wilson.
“Remember that 2001 monolith: A Space Odyssey? It was the last time you sent signals from the Moon to Jupiter. It looks like some of these plants were returned to Earth. We intercepted them and created Jupe.”
Fire-resistant canvas stretched over aluminum poles forms the angular cocoon, which tilts up to a ceiling height of 11 meters at the highest point.
The LEDs along the poles can be used to provide illumination in the dark.
The Jupe was designed to work outside the network with illuminated structure, wi-fi, electrical outlets and USB ports powered by solar panels or batteries.
“Experiencing the natural wonders of the world should not mean being forced to disconnect while remaining in an uninspiring environment,” said Wilson.
Extras offered by the company include a balcony, a lockable safe, a refrigerator, speakers and an Amazon Alexa voice-controlled device.
Each shelter is on a chassis that raises the tent part from the ground. The birch tiles rise to allow occupants to access the storage space below, which Jupe’s designers estimate can hold up to ten suitcases.
The 111 square meter cabin entrance can be left open to frame the landscape, and narrow windows that can be opened on the side provide extra ventilation.
A palette of sand tones was selected for the interior of Jupe, in collaboration with boutique hotel designer Liz Lambert and Cameron Sinclair, who was previously the head of social innovation at Airbnb.
A step leads to a platform with a large bed with a mattress and headboards slightly sunk into the floor. Built-in furniture includes a desk, chair and ottoman.
The company made the pods, which are manufactured in a Los Angeles factory, available for pre-order now, with the first flatpack kits scheduled to be delivered in January 2021.
Jupe was founded by investment banker Cameron Blizzard and Jeff Wilson, whose former micro-housing startup, Kasita, made small mobile homes.
Earlier this year, the company used its projects to create mobile isolation recovery wards for hospitals overloaded by coronavirus patients.
The photograph is by Sam Gezari.