Dezeen Magazine

Airbnb Up house

Airbnb creates rentals from films including Up house suspended from crane

Rental platform Airbnb has announced the addition of its Icons program, a category that provides a range of experiences including a stay in the house from Pixar's Up and an overnight stay in the Musee D'Orsay in Paris.

The first 11 Icons experiences include recreations of houses from popular culture, such as the floating house from Pixar's film Up, and visits with celebrities, such as a night out with comic Kevin Hart.

The Up house recreated
Airbnb has created 11 "extraordinary" experiences for its new Icons category. This photo and top photo by Ryan Lowry

The 11 Icons include a full-scale model of the house from Pixar's Up, which will be suspended by a crane – though not when guests are inside it – to a stay in the clock tower of Paris's Musee D' Orsay.

This was transformed into a bedroom by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur and will be available for the opening of the upcoming summer Olympics.

The experiences will be awarded to guests through a selection process, with approximately eight additional Icon experiences being rolled out throughout the year to join the first batch. Each Icon is free or under $100 (£80).

Two cartoonish armchairs
The category includes recreations of houses from popular culture and experiences with celebrities. Photo by Ryan Lowry

"Icons take you inside worlds that only existed in your imagination – until now," said Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky. "As life becomes increasingly digital, we're focused on bringing more magic into the real world. With Icons, we've created the most extraordinary experiences on Earth."

The launch follows the platform's release of recreations of Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse and Shrek's swampland cottage, as well as previous overnight experiences in an Ikea showroom and the last remaining Blockbuster.

Clock tower in Musee d'Orsay
Rentals include an overnight stay at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. Photo by Frederik Vercruysse

"These experiences captured people's imagination and they allowed people to step into someone else's world," said Chesky. "And at its best, this is what Airbnb does. And what it's always been about."

To create the spaces, the brand employed a variety of strategies. In the case of the Up house, it was built from scratch, while other properties were renovated or outfitted with a particular theme such as the X-Mansion from the X-Men movie series or Prince's Purple Rain house.

Musee d'Orsay
The rental was designed by Mathieu Lehanneur and will be available during the opening of the summer Olympic Games. Photo by Frederik Vercruysse

"The Up house is one of the most iconic homes in any film ever," said Chesky. "You're gonna be able to stay in Carl and Ellie's home and it will feel like you're stepping inside the movie."

"This is a real house we built from scratch. We had to literally paint every detail in the home to match the exact Pantone colours used in the film, from the roof tiles to the siding," he continued.

X-mansion
The rentals include houses built from scratch or outfitted in a particular style. Photo by Max Miechowski

For the X-Mansion, the team searched for a home in Upstate New York that looked like an approximation of the house from the movie series and then covered the interior in comic-strip style illustrations by artist Joshua Vides.

According to Airbnb VP of design Teo Connor, it took approximately two weeks for Vides and his team to hand-paint each room.

Cartoonish closet
For the X-Mansion from the X-Men movie series, the interior was painted with comic-style illustrations. Photo by Holly Andres

"Each Icon has a different timeline because they're all so unique, so different," Connor told Dezeen. "[There was] a huge amount of effort to bring these things to life and I think it really shows."

"With these types of things, we're really wanting to immerse you in a world and for it to feel authentic," she continued.

Other Icons include a stay at the Ferrari museum in a custom-made circular bed that is surrounded by various Ferrari models and a visit to Bollywood star Janhvi Kapoor's "childhood oasis" in India.

To visit the various experiences, travellers must submit a written entry through Airbnb during a timed submission period. 4,000 guests will be selected and awarded a "golden ticket" to attend the experiences over the coming year.

Purple Rain house
Other experiences include a stay in Prince's house from the movie Purple Rain. Photo by Eric Ogden

The brand also released several updates in order to make booking and organizing group trips easier for travellers, including multiple users being able to message the host and a ranking system when selecting a rental together.

Last year, Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky warned against designers failing to embrace AI and announced a program that called to designers and creatives to rent out their spaces for supplemental income.

The photography is courtesy of Airbnb.

More images

Up house flying by crane
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Eugene T'Jean Davezies
Up house
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Ariana McLaughlin
Details of binoculars in Up house
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Damien Maloney
Cane with tennis balls on the bottom
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Damien Maloney
Recreation of the living room in Up
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Damien Maloney
A scrap book
Drift off in the Up house. Photo by Damien Maloney
Musee d'Orsay
Wake up in the Musée d’Orsay. Photo by Frederik Vercruysse
Interior of the Musee d'Orsay
Wake up in the Musée d’Orsay. Photo by Maureen Evans
A cartoonish room
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Holly Andres
A cartoonish control room
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Holly Andres
A cartoonish office
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Holly Andres
A pink bedroom
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Holly Andres
X-men house lobby
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Holly Andres
A cartoonish tv and bottles
Step into X-Men ’97. Photo by Heather Sten
Ferrari museum
Spend the night in the Ferrari Museum. Photo by Thomas Prior
Ferrari Museum
Spend the night in the Ferrari Museum. Photo by Thomas Prior
Ferrari museum
Spend the night in the Ferrari Museum. Photo by Thomas Prior
Ferrari museum
Spend the night in the Ferrari Museum. Photo by Thomas Prior
Janhvi Kapoor house
Live like Bollywood star Janhvi Kapoor. Photo by Bikramjit Bose
House by Khaby Lane
Game with Khaby Lane. Image by Federico Ciamei
Purple Rain house
Stay in Prince’s Purple Rain house. Photo by Eric Ogden
A transformer head being covered
Photo by Cole Wilson