Vacation Want: Casa Ojalá

I am not a difficult traveler. I don’t need five-star accommodations, but I do like someplace nice and clean, with a comfy bed and nice bath.

Enter Casa Ojalá. After a celebrated debut at Milan Design Week in 2019, Casa Ojalá [Hope House] has officially premiered its first unit in Tuscany’s Val d’Orcia region. The compact cabin, conceived by Italian architect Beatrice Bonzanigo, is perched on a hillside in the 5,000-acre Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco estate, which hosts a luxury hotel with its own Brunello di Montalcino winery.

If you’ve never had Brunello di Montalcino, a delicious Sangiovese, you haven’t tasted heaven, but I digress …

After the smash debut, Bonzanigo teamed up with engineer Ryan Nesbitt to develop the concept into full-scale production, featuring manual mechanisms of ropes, pulleys, and cranks—inspired by the same system on boats—the roughly 291-square-foot guest suite can be fully opened, or closed, concealing walls, floor and ceiling tiles, and furniture.

The customizable, timber-clad cabin comes with options for retractable single and double beds that can be stored beneath the floor to maximize space in the living areas. A freestanding tub sits below one of the structure’s roof panels, which can open for sunbathing and stargazing. A ladder leads to a terrace lounge area that is accessible via a roof hatch.

These little transformative off-the-grid hotel rooms can be placed just about anywhere in the world, whether “by the ocean of Tulum, among the Vermont forests, or on the sands of Dubai.”

I want one in Tuscany so I can climb the roof and drink my Brunello di Montalcino, or sit in the open-air bath and drink my Brunello di Montalcino, or in the sitting area or the bedroom area, or just wandering through the fields drinking my Brunello di Montalcino.

Casa Ojalá  Dwell