Na vrouwen hotel en cafe nu ook een vrouwen rest house in Japan.

As well as lunch and wifi, the Qusca Sleeping Café offers space for women to rest and refresh during their working day.

 20th February 2013 in Lifestyle & Leisure.

Women who are looking for beauty treatment and with little time to spare in their work schedule have already been offered convenient 15-minute in-office manicures courtesy of Manicube. Now the Qusca Sleeping Caféaims to provide a space for women to rest and refresh, as well as get lunch and keep up with work.

Located in the Akasaka district of Tokyo, the café was set up specifically to offer working women a private and relaxing area where they can relieve some of the day’s stress. Visitors pay JPY 150 per ten minutes to take advantage of the café’s facilities. The cost covers use of a sleeping room perfumed with a ‘healing’ aroma, a make-up space that includes free cosmetics and hair styling supplies, and mobile device-charging stations. The café also provides wifi and has a menu of free snacks and drinks available each day. Those wanting a more substantial meal can also pay JPY 600 for Qusca’s ‘healthy deli lunch’, designed to recharge workers’ batteries.

Although services offering spaces for short naps – such as the UK’s Podtime – have been seen before on Springwise, Qusca provides an entirely new kind of space dedicated to female professionals, with the aim of boosting their productivity. Could this work in your part of the world?

Hydrophic

Compact hydroponic eenheid kan 10,000 groente opleveren jaarlijks

Japanese homebuilding firm Daiwa House Industry has developed the Agri-Cube, a unit that fits inside a standard parking space and can produce around 30 vegetables a day.

 14th August 2012 in Eco & Sustainability, Food & Beverage.

In recent times, Springwise has come across a number of startups aiming to aid urban crop growth with innovative hydroponic solutions, from the NASA-inspired Green Wheel indoor rotary garden to Efficient City Farming’s rooftop aquaponic farm. Now Japanese homebuilding firm Daiwa House Industry has developed the Agri-Cube, a unit that fits inside a standard parking space and can produce 10,000 vegetables a year.

The Agri-Cube utilises variable fluorescent lighting, temperature control and a fertilizer circulation and drainage system to give urban farmers flexibility with their crops, which grow on stacked shelves inside the unit. Trials have shown best results with leafy vegetables such as lettuce and other salad greens, although a total of 23 varieties have been sustained using the system, including small root vegetables like radishes and turnips. Lettuce heads can be grown within 42 days and the creators claim that the Agri-Cube has a yield of 10,000 heads per year. It is expected that the device could be used by city restaurants, hotels and grocers, due to its small footprint, which could also cut fuel usage and emissions involved in transporting farmed goods across the country. The following video from DigInfo has more information about the product:

There are two versions of Agri-Cube available, priced at JPY 5,500,000 for the standard package and JPY 8,500,000 for additional air conditioning and rooftop solar panels, while the cost of running the machine is around JPY 35 per vegetable. For urban businesses that can’t afford to buy their own land off site, this innovation could prove especially useful.

Website: www.daiwahouse.co.jp
Contact: www.daiwahouse.co.jp/qa/qa.asp?type=2

Mobiele popup hotel

Alles wordt mobiel ook in hotels. 

Mobile hotel offers guests a surprise location

Sleeping Around has turned four shipping containers into a temporary hotel that pops up at a different location for each guest.

The Olympic Games last summer saw one London taxi driver turn his black cab into a makeshift mobile hotelfor tourists who needed flexible sleeping quarters. Now Belgium-based Sleeping Around has turned shipping containers into a temporary hotel that pops up at a different location for each guest.

The metal containers have been transformed into a fashionably-designed hotel space using sustainably-resourced materials, with a bathroom and space for dining. Rather than remaining at one particular location, the boxes are transported around Antwerp and guests booking a night in the hotel are treated to a surprise. After confirming their stay, they are alerted to the location of the hotel via GPS directions. Sleeping Around has currently placed the hotel on the Scheldt riverfront but aims to select a new location soon. Stays cost around EUR 149 per night.

Sleeping Around provide a unique experience for the traveler, alongside the thrill of not knowing where exactly they will be staying. How else can businesses target audiences with a flexible attitude to service?