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Mama Shelter
Paris
Phillipe Stark and Roland Castro create new concept for Club Med Founders
“We live in a world where everything seems to have a price. Every social, racial, religious or sexual group is placed in a particular category that can be assessed in terms of how much revenue they can bring to a particular industry branch. We are also subject to incessant judgment anywhere we go. Paris, the premier tourist destination, is not an exception. Its variety of hotels still segregates tourists placing them in an array of separate categories.
In this world of division and exclusion, however, there are a few districts that dare not to mind what ‘other people will say’. These intransigent spots are hence timeless and respond to the human fragility, complexity, sophistication and constant pursuit of the meaning of life.
Mama Shelter’s goal is to take into consideration the person and not the social constraints by which he is bound. We have created a ‘shelter’, which as opposed to locking one out from the outside world provides him with food for thought, an ambience in which he is able to think freely and discover the Paris known to locals by experiencing the French capital’s urban and cosmopolitan side.”
The launch of Paris’ Mama Shelter comes couched in language worthy of a Left Bank intellectual, so it should come as no surprise that one of its founding partners is a philosopher.Cyril Aouizerate has joined forces with Club Med founders the Trigano family to launch a new hotel in the 20th arrondissement, at the heart of the Village Saint Blaise.
The partners have spent some seven years collaborating with architect Roland Castro and designer Philippe Starck to create the hotel, which is due to open in September 2008.
Mama Shelter will feature 172 Starck-designed rooms ranging from 15 to 35m2. Each is equipped with a kitchenette, 100% cotton satin sheets, coffee machines, microwaves, and 24 inch iMacs (including TV, radio, CD/DVD, Skype and free Internet access).
The ground floor will feature a communal dining restaurant, featuring an enormous table with built-in TV screens as its centrepiece, as well as a 40-seat island bar. There is also an eight-person foosball table, a Yoga Room and scooters available to rent.
According to the hotel’s partners:
“Our ambition was to create not only a place to spend the night, but to establish a modern kibbutz, a laic monastery, a place where friends can gather around the table to share a meal prepared by our chef or to visit the nearby Fleche D’Or, the popular Parisian electro-indie rock club. Between the artists’ studios, Père La Chaise, the Campagne à Paris and the winding cobblestone streets, you will feel the lingering spirit of Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison and other great artists.”
