This hotel of the future is like WeWork combined with Airbnb

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Bill Tanaka

People working remotely want to be in spaces that feel like a hybrid between home and work. Enter the ultra-customizable Zoku micro-loft, which packs in everything you'd ever need for work and socializing. 

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The first Zoku micro-loft hotel, opening in Amsterdam in June 2016. People can stay for days or months at a time, Zoku’s co-founder Hans Meyer tells Tech Insider.

It's like WeWork coworking space-meets-AirBnB.

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Zoku (a Japanese word meaning "work, thrive, family, cleanse") designed the 270-square-foot apartment to squeeze a lot in a tiny space.

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Bill Tanaka

The living room features a sofa, a coffee table, a flat-screen TV, and even a pair of rings to do pull-ups.

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Ewout Huibers
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Next to the living space, there's a kitchen decked out with a kettle, mitts, and pots.

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It features a bunch of space-savers too, like a desk alcove underneath the lofted bedroom. A stairwell slides out and leads to the king-sized futon hidden by wooden screens.

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The building will contain 153 lofts. On the first level, Zoku will offer communal areas for sharing meals, co-working, reading, hanging out — really anything.

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Ewout Huibers

The hybrid loft is for young entrepreneurs, who Meyer calls "global nomads" working across time zones. "This is an offline place where they can mingle and come together," Meyer says.

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While hotel rooms usually center around the bed, Zoku’s loft will center around the wooden table that seats four. "People can have a business meeting there or have a cappuccino with friends — they can really make it theirs," Meyer says.

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The design recently won the Radical Innovation Award, a contest that searches for innovative hotel concepts. Zoku beat out 50 other submissions from 28 countries.

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The loft won because it embodies the future of hotel and the working travelers who will stay in them, says John Hardy, who sits on the Award’s jury. The hotel-stayers of tomorrow won’t work 9 to 5, Hardy says, but whenever they want. They'll need spaces to match.

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Ewout Huibers

"Peoples’ business and social life are mixing together," says Hardy, who also serves as CEO of his own hotel development firm. "Even if you’re on vacation, you might still be working. Or you can have a party in your room. You can do whatever you want."

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