Oh my god Airbnb! Fund awards $100,000 for design of pig sanctuary in Texas

CENTRAL TEXAS (KXAN) – A Central Texas nonprofit is one of 100 winners named recipients of OMG from Airbnb! Fundsreceiving up to $100,000 to design quirky and unusual short-term rental space.

Central Texas Pig Rescue will build a pig sanctuary over the next 10 months, with an Airbnb projected opening date of August 2023. CTPR founder Dan Illescas and director Tracey Stabile collaborated on the design, in using their respective architecture and marketing backgrounds to land on the finale. room.

“When we first saw the contest, I think we pretty much mutually and independently agreed that it had to be a pig,” Stabile said. “It would just be the most exciting and relevant thing we could do.”

The CTPR was launched in 2016 and houses nearly 200 pigs, Stabile and Illescas said. Part of her mission is to destigmatize pigs and help people see and care for them differently. The sanctuary operates on a 26-acre property in Bastrop, where this Airbnb will be built.

The shrine will be built to look like a pig, covered with plants and a pollinator roof, with a lattice element in the pig’s snout.

“What we landed on was to use the head of the structure as a trellis element and create a kind of 3D trellis using some of our local cedar branches to create and fill in the shade,” Illescas said. “So people will be able to walk out of the room through a glass door into that private moment, inside a cocoon of warm wood and light and air.”

With an August 2023 opening date, Illescas said it would prioritize completing the majority of exterior construction during the colder months, with final interior details completed in the summer ahead of its opening date. .

Not only do Illescas and Stabile want the design elements to blend into the natural prairie landscape, they want future guests to feel connected to the property and its rescue pigs.

The property is off-grid, solar powered and 100% plant-based. The two discussed the possibility of collaborating with local vegan businesses on snacks or product partnerships for items stocked in the Airbnb. They also pioneered the idea of ​​free tours or volunteer opportunities for guests to mingle with the pigs and foster relationships.

“We are the sanctuary of a species that is not really seen with sympathy and empathy in the world,” Stabile said. “So any opportunity we have to see new eyes and change new minds and new hearts is a tremendous opportunity for us.”

More information on Central Texas Pig Rescue and how volunteer Where make a donation is available online.