Hotel du Lac (Hôtel du Lac), located in Tunis, Tunisia, was built between 1970 and 1973 by Italian architect Raffaele Contigiani. The hotel reaches up to 10 stories, and supposedly has ~416 rooms … although it has been vacant since 2000. In 2013, the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (LAFICO) purchased the site, ostensibly intending to tear it down; however, fans of Brutalist structures and perhaps even the mayors are trying to quash the demolition.
Nevertheless, the shape of Hotel du Lac is worth a mention in my mind; even though it is off-limits to the average pedestrian, the crude angles of the façade and the openness of the surrounding area make it quite photogenic. On that note, there was a actually rumor that the unusual design inspired the sandcrawlers from Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope.
If you or anyone else you might not know has any information regarding the Hotel du Lac regarding its actual name, date opened, date closed, or any other salient bits, please let us know!
“Winged hubris” must be the best made up architecture phrase I’ve heard all decade.
谢了Jen. Though, would it sound more complete if I wrote “winged hubrism?” In that case, I wouldn’t be as sure that people would comprehend…
By the by, are you familiar with Manhattan at all? There’s a neighborhood by Broadway in the lower 30s/upper 20s that I think should be renamed Chungking Mansions. Someday you’ll get it;)