French designer Philippe Starck has joined forces with hospitality giant The Hilton Group to create a surreal, 14-storey hotel in Metz, France.
The property will be operated by Hilton's Curio Collection under a new brand, called Maison Heler.
Envisioned as a monolithic and monochromatic tower, topped by an 18th-century style Alsace traditional house, Starck has described his plan to create “a habitable, surreal and poetic work of art that will become a strong symbol for the region” and open to both guests and local residents.
Situated in the heart of the city’s newly-developed Quartier de l'Amphithéâtre, Maison Heler Metz will be the first hotel in Europe entirely created and developed from the ground up by the design icon.
The property will have 14 floors, including a rooftop terrace and garden covered with local trees and offering panoramic views of the entire city. There will be 119 guest-rooms and suites, complemented by a “cosy and poetic restaurant and lounge bar” and a gym situated in the house.
In a design statement, Starck said he has taken inspiration from the Centre Pompidou Metz, Shigeru Ban’s dreamlike contemporary art museum, for “a project demonstrating ‘out-of-scale’ phantasmagoric architecture.”
Curio Collection is a portfolio of nearly 50 upper upscale hotels and resorts handpicked by Hilton for their unique character, including
a new “sanctuary of style” in London's Trafalgar Square and
New York’s historic Renwick Hotel.
