Inspired by Airbnb, Design With Company, a Chicago-based architecture duo Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer, created the space to be an open forum, inviting visitors to come in and actively experience the installation. The Design Miami/ satellite exhibition, located opposite the fair’s main entrance, is designed to lend itself to interactive moments. The different shapes begin as simple divisions, creating areas of engagement, and are transformed for access, opening up to welcome guests in. By using familiar shapes and elements and placing them in new contexts, Design With Company will create a sense of playful comfort for visitors, while prompting them to think differently about space.

“A lot of our work looks at the intersection of narrative and architecture, or how physical space and storytelling collide,” says Stewart Hicks, co-founder of Design With Company. “Working with Airbnb on this project is a great marriage of many of the ideas we are passionate about. Over the years, Airbnb has become a platform that, among other things, demonstrates how people live today and how they relate to their physical spaces. We hope that partnering with them on Belong. Here. Now will create a space for inspiration and community throughout Design Miami/.”

While the installation space itself will be interactive, it will truly come alive with the various creative hosts taking up residency throughout the week. From performance art to music, illustration to photography, the hosts will employ various mediums and methods to create ephemeral and unexpected moments. The experience of Airbnb centers on hosted moments. Inviting someone into your home, showing them your favorite parts of your city, and making them feel welcome are all expressions of hospitality, which the creatives in Miami will mirror during the week.

“As a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, the creative community is extremely important not only to myself, but to Airbnb at its core,” says Joe Gebbia, co-founder and Chief Product Officer. “Airbnb is a community of creatives, from hosts that use the income from Airbnb to support their creative endeavors to guests who travel to inform their artistic process. Our installation in Miami is an exciting opportunity for us to give this part of our community a platform to share their work with Design Miami/ and the global audience of attendees.”