So You Want to Hibernate in a Shipping Container

Shipping containers are one of environmentally friendly designers’ favorite materials. They’re versatile, inexpensive, and primed to go viral: Witness this coverage of shipping container structures ranging from food plazas to homes to … the border wall, maybe. You can buy them on eBay for a month’s rent — as long as you live in a big apartment in an expensive city. 

This, though, is the first application we’ve seen of its kind: Quadrum Ski and Yoga Resort, a ski resort in the Georgian Caucasus mountains. It’s described as the first boutique hotel in the Caucasus, and we’ve found no information to the contrary. It is definitely the first ski resort we’ve seen made from shipping containers. 

This is a very good looking set-up. The containers have been set up so that the ends butt up against the mountain — and the opposite-end walls have been replaced with glass, making for a spectacularly reflective “wall” of windows. Room layouts run lengthwise, as you’d expect from such a long and narrow space. And the containers themselves are elevated on stilts, which lowers the impact on the environment. 

For guests more interested in skiing than architecture, the nearest ski lifts are a five-minute walk. Facilities for yoga and swimming will open next season. (Bonus: free wifi!) And if you’re unfamiliar with the Caucasus, check out this Outside piece on the local skiing scene — which they said offered “endless, pristine mountain terrain.”