Get a VR Preview of Williamsburg’s Modular Pod Hotel at BKLYN Designs

BKYLN Designs kicked off in Greenpoint today, bringing dozens of exhibitors showing “the very best contemporary furniture, lighting, accessories and art made in Brooklyn.” Now through Sunday, you can hit up the Brooklyn Expo Center to see-saw in a “Pac-Mac” rocking bench made from wood rescued from a New York City distillery, or recline in a chaise lounge made of Coney Island boardwalk wood. Oh, and don’t miss your chance to take a VR tour of Williamsburg’s forthcoming Pod hotel.

Pod already has two Manhattan hotels on East 39th and 51st Streets, but this one— at 626 Driggs Avenue, between North 3rd and 4th Streets— is different because it’s modular, meaning the building’s individual units were pre-fabricated in Poland (to some controversy) and then shipped here to be fitted together like Legos.

Last week, the units finally arrived in Red Hook after a three-week boat trip across the Atlantic. In June or July, they’ll be placed on the construction site, where foundation work has already been underway. “The hotel rooms are entirely complete, right down to the coat hooks,” an informational placard informs. Each of the 10′ x 10′ x 30′ pods (so, slightly larger than a shipping container) will hold two rooms separated by a hallway and equipped with either a queen bed or a bunk bed, plus bathrooms so small that the toilet is located in the shower stall. The rooms are about as small as the exhibition booth: about 10’ x 10’.

According to the website of Brooklyn-based designer Garrison Architects, the idea behind the hotel is to keep the rooms cheap, and “to maximize social opportunities by providing generous communal spaces.” One of those spaces, a courtyard with a towering plant wall, will be used by an in-house restaurant. As with the other Pod hotels, the eatery will be operated by Ken Friedman and April Bloomfield of Salvation Burger and Salvation Taco (Friedman just won a James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Restaurateur earlier this week).

If you don’t feel like coughing up $15 to get into BKLYN Designs and strap on a VR headset, play our video to have a look around the Pod’s lobby, courtyard, and a sample room. The hotel is expected to open in December or January.

Correction: The original version of this post was revised to correct the name of the expo, which is BKLYN Designs.