DYSON/AIRBNB The Hidden House
Client: Dyson & Airbnb
Event Management: Traffik
Trial Build: Concept Craft
Dome Cover: Fabric Solutions
Dome Frame: The Dome Company
Event: 2015
Dyson and Airbnb teamed up to run a competition – something between a guessing game and a treasure hunt, or a real-life version of GeoGuessr. the prize was a weekend’s stay in an unlisted, one-of-a-kind Airbnb listing – which turned out to be pop-up apartment on the roof of Tonic House in Melbourne, stacked full of Dyson gadgets and inventor James Dyson’s design icons.”
“After a fortnight’s clue-hunting, 30,000 participants (including what seemed like the entire OzBargain community) stumble on the correct answer, the rooftop bar at Tonic House. Waiting for the winners was a pretty damn impressive structure and a unique experience. The entire pack was worth nearly $50,000, and include a spa treatment, a $1000 gift card and return flights to Melbourne.
“The challenge was to launch the new Dyson V6 and announce their Airbnb partnership with a highly talkable ‘unique stay’.
The answer lay in designing and building a secret unlisted Airbnb house – an epic geodesic dome, placed on the roof a Melbourne 4 storied building – the clues to which were released over 15 consecutive days on the Dyson facebook page. Users dropped pins on an interactive map to guess the location. The first person to drop a pin on the correct location, won the competition.”
Challenge
Build an 8 metre diameter dome in a tight space on top of a 4 storied building with limited access. Refer to above photo of Tonic House in Flinders Lane.
All materials to be lifted onto rooftop site by crane.
Requirement for a black exterior and white exterior.
Need for a lock up door and entrance portal.
Ballast requirement of 4 tonnes with concrete blocks
Solution
Flinders Lane needed to be blocked to traffic for crane access.
The 8m dome was packed into a single cage stillage
A custom dome cover was made using Ferrari 502 fabric; with a black “Onyx” exterior and white interior.
The custom entrance portal was pre-fabricated by Concept Craft in Sydney and the dome frame built as a trial build in their factory.
Setup and execution
Once the dome frame was built, the covers were dragged over with ropes, using talcum powder between the fabrics so the second cover slid over easier. With only a low parapet wall on top of the roof, we could not climb on the dome frame and could only walk around the dome on one side.
The concrete ballast blocks and internal flooring also had be be hoisted onto the roof.
Outcome and benefits
“The Dyson Hidden House itself was a geodesic dome – designed and refined in the late 1940s by architect and designer Buckminster Fuller (and also itself half of a molecule of buckminsterfulleren), for which he received US Patent No.2682335 – with a single door for access. The winners had the entire rooftop of Tonic House to themselves for the weekend, along with a personal butler.
Inside the Hidden House, every inclusion was chosen as a nod to Dyson founder and long-time inventor James Dyson’s interests and inspirations – everything from the Husky bar fridge to the Eames lounge chair and ottoman. Even the rug was designed by Deidre Dyson. The room was paced with Dyson technology, too – two Air Multiplier fans, and a V6 Absolute vacumm – 15 of which were the prize for daily competition winners in the search for the house.”
A coffee table book was designed to summarise and highlight each of the specific locations shown throughout the campaign.
Testimonials
Dyson ANZ marketing director, Caroline Bonpain said: “Airbnb prides itself on helping people belong anywhere and Dyson sees this starting with feeling comfortable in a clean space.”
Airbnb Australia communications manager, Dylan Smith said: “This truly Melbourne property adds to the 50,000 unique listings we currently have in Australia, giving an incredible opportunity to the guests lucky enough to experience it.”
Conclusion
“During the 2 weeks the campaign was live, it generated over 4.5 million impressions and attracted over 50,000 site visitors resulting in more than 65,000 individual pins dropped.”
