Rebirth of the Monte-Carlo Beach (Monaco)
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Rebirth of the Monte-Carlo Beach (Monaco)
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Category: Europe - Monaco - Industry economy -
Renovation / Addition
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2009-05-19
Welcome to the Monte Carlo Beach!
It is with great joy that I can announce the rebirth of this hotel so dear to the Monegasques since 1929.
In order to provide our guests with even more than before, we have completely rethought the hotel and restored it to its former glory, whilst adding the modern touches necessary to today’s comfort.
The Monte-Carlo SBM group has undertaken the global reinterpretation of the Monte-Carlo Beach with pride. The constant policy of optimisation of our hotels is being carried out assiduously.
From the conception of the project to the opening of the hotel to the public, we have taken great care to carry out this work in perfect harmony with the preservation of our planet. This philosophy has been rewarded with the “chantier bleu” label given to construction sites with a minimum impact on the environment.
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More than a large-scale renovation, it is a new vision of the hotel trade that we are presenting to you.
The Monte Carlo Beach is now offering even more comfort, gastronomy, care, nautical activities, vegetation and space... all in a remarkable setting.
Chic and timeless, the Monte Carlo Beach perpetuates the very elegance of the Riviera and the Groupe Monte-Carlo SBM’s art of fine living.
For its eightieth birthday, it is flaunting its eternal youth — with elegance and spirit.
Bernard Lambert
CEO
Groupe Monte-Carlo SBM
The rebirth of the Monte Carlo Beach
It is the event of the spring: After a winter of backbreaking work, the Monte Carlo Beach is emerging from hibernation to present its new face. The Groupe Monte-Carlo SBM wanted to breathe new life — a fighting spirit and modernity — into this emblematic address on the Riviera. A luxurious and convivial setting, reviving the splendour and glamour of the Roaring Twenties.
Today, the Monte Carlo Beach boasts a new terracotta-coloured exterior which greatly enhances the building and creates a perfect harmony with the cobalt blue waters of the Mediterranean just a few metres away... a tribute to the great potters who made the region famous. The Monte Carlo Beach, in all its finery, seems to play with the sun all day long, each hour providing the pretext for presenting a different colour of the spectrum. Redesigned entirely by India Mahdavi, the Monte Carlo Beach is an ode to the Mediterranean. In this new decor, the sea is omnipresent, creating an obvious and harmonious duo with the hotel— a permanent guest, much to the delight of everyone.
Although the spirit and the form remain unchanged, the Monte Carlo Beach appears completely transformed.
Perspectives, materials, lines, space: A total metamorphosis has taken place. After many months of thought and work, the result presented to the world today meets everyone’s expectations.
From the moment you enter the lobby, redesigned entirely featuring a Terrazzo marble floor, you are aware of the designer’s very personal touch. From the terrace of the Elsa restaurant to the corridors on the second floor, decorated with large portholes, there is a resolutely dynamic air about the place.
The forty airy rooms and suites are in perfect harmony. With the Mediterranean as the only horizon, the feeling of spaciousness and light is accentuated.
Here, like everywhere at the Monte Carlo Beach, almost all the furniture and objects are the fruit of India Mahdavi’s imagination. These unique decorative items have been created in order to blend naturally into the different parts of the building and emphasize the global conceptual vision of the project.
The rooms and suites at the Monte Carlo Beach are highly innovative. State-of-the-art technology, to satisfy the clients’ fondness for all things new, is combined with a touch of all things romantic. How can anyone remain insensitive to the wall frescos exuding so much grace? Painted by Aurore de la Morinerie, these reminiscences of Matisse – for the colours – and Cocteau’s Santo Sospir period – for the charcoal – contrast with style to the stripes above the beds.
Landscaper Jean Mus has created the gardens full of bewitching fragrances which provide a serene cocoon for visitors.
Everywhere, even in the nooks and crannies, the Monte Carlo Beach brandishes proudly its restored identity.
India Mahdavi is adding her special touch to the Monte Carlo Beach.
Opened in 1929, the hotel so dear to the Monegasques is about to be reopened. The new Monte Carlo Beach will be unveiled in May 2009.
The Monte Carlo SBM group wanted one of the most distinguished architect-designers to give back the Monte Carlo Beach its original glamour.
“It is with great pleasure that we have chosen India Mahdavi to revamp the Monte Carlo Beach. We plan to offer a completely different experience for our future guests” says Bernard Lambert, CEO of Monte-Carlo SBM. India Mahdavi’s luxurious and contemporary touch to this magnificent 1930’s seashore villa will arouse great enthusiasm.”
Architect and designer India Mahdavi is forever breathing new life and creativity into her projects, ie the Hotel Condesa DF in Mexico, the On Rivington in New York the Connaught in London, private homes in Australia, Spain, in London and Paris... Her nomadic culture and upbringing has also greatly influenced her furniture collection, which is can be seen in her Parisian show room. Moreover, she has collaborated with luxurious brands such as Bernardaud and Ruinart, to develop special lines of products.
After having just launched Hélène Darroze’s restaurant at the Connaught in London, she has inaugurated her new version of the Parisian bistro “Germain” in association with Thierry Costes, in the heart of Saint Germain des Prés.
Meet the designer India Mahdavi
Your past creations have been very eclectic.
What have you accomplished at the Monte Carlo Beach that you have never done before?
The place itself is for me the starting point of a story, of a project. Each story is different, each project is unique, and every each is a first time. Although I’ve already worked on a seaside hotel in Miami, working on this mythical Riviera gem is something completely new to me. I plan to revive the great epoch of the 1930’s with modernity and elegance.
What made you decide to take on this project?
First and foremost, its location. The Monte Carlo Beach is tucked away an authentic Mediterranean scenery, surrounded by cypresses and Aleppo pine trees, with an amazing view across the bay. English-speakers have a special name for exceptional places like this - a spot – and the Beach is not only a spot but a magical one. It’s a breath of fresh air between Cap Martin, its seashore and lush vegetation, and Monaco, one of the most sophisticated places on the Riviera. Such a unique and rare challenge was too tempting to ignore ! The size of the building was just perfect for me because I don’t like hotels that are too big. Boasting 40 rooms, the Monte Carlo Beach enables me to give the place a touch of grand villa. Last but not least, my relationship with the Société des Bains de Mer was paramount: I listened and absorbed their requirements and expectations before setting everything into motion, a process which has lasted over a year…
How do you operate?
What was the starting point of your work at the Beach?
I work on instinct, searching for the obvious, mental images ... and then I go for the fragrances, colours, fabrics and lighting.
For the Beach I imagined, much more than just a tale, a romance, a timeless sentimental story, with a backdrop of images of the Riviera: brightly-coloured juxtapositions of Matisse’s collages, George Hoyningen-Huene’s black and white photographs of elegant young women in bathing suits, and the Riva boat, a symbol of a certain way of life. My personal input fuelled the project and reinforced it: I spent part of my childhood in the hinterland behind Nice and it’s still etched in my memory. I feel I have been on a trip down memory lane by intertwining beach and mountain landscapes.
The graphic language I chose for the hotel is based on Monaco’s recurrent themes : stripes , the Monte Carlo Beach DNA, and lozenges the Principality’s coat of arms. In a nutshell, I opted for a more classical and elegant approach for this hotel rather than a “design” one.
How did you program your work on the “new” Monte Carlo Beach?
Our main purpose was to give the sea the lead role in our story.
Axes within the indoor and outdoor spaces are more fluid now, and they are all connected to the sea.
By designing a real-size mock-up room, I was able to improve my concept: the sea in the room, a porthole between the bedroom and the bathroom, sliding doors for casting shadows of light and depth. By connecting the loggia and the promenade with a private stairway, the bedrooms now looks rather like a bungalow. We had the same sort of idea for the lobby and the restaurant... they now reach out to the terrace.
Your creativity is diverse, multifaceted (interior design, architecture, scenography , which of these skills has played the major role?
All of them. I have been able to express myself in many ways throughout this project: interior design for the global concept, architecture when rethinking the spaces, scenography for redesigning the lines of the bedrooms and the suites.
To remain faithful to the tradition of “Arts Décoratifs”, we designed exclusive furniture for the hotel, we also chose the tableware, selected the materials, the colors and the fabrics.
As an Artistic Director, I surrounded myself with highly competent professionals: Jean Mus, a landscaper specialised in Mediterranean gardens, designers Ich&Kar for the visual identity, Capucine Puerari for the uniforms, and artist Aurore de la Morinerie for the frescos in the bedrooms.
During this incredible adventure, what has been your biggest challenge?
Creating a new language and a strong identity for the Monte Carlo Beach. It’s been a very ambitious artistic management mission.
Combining creativity and novelty with given logistic and time schedule requirements has been quite a challenge. I hope I’ve delivered what was expected of me!
What added value has India Mahdavi brought to the Beach?
A modernized and respectful vision of the spirit of the Société des Bains de Mer.
This hotel is a jewel in the crown of Monaco : families have had beach tents here for generations, others have learned to swim, and some have even fallen in love….! It is my wish that the Beach will charm its guests once again.
Monte Carlo Beach: Nature suits it so well…
The new face of the Monte-Carlo Beach will be revealed when it opens on 19 May 2009.
Ideally tucked away in the heart of wild vegetation, it has always been a perfect example of architecture blending in with the surroundings.
Protected by a magnificent pine forest which reaches the Vigie headland, the hotel is a real breath of fresh air, the ideal spot for a contemplative rest away from the hurly-burly world.
On the occasion of the renaissance of the Monte Carlo Beach, India Mahdavi, the distinguished designer responsible for the renovation, wanted “the mountains brought as far as the beach”. The landscaping has been carried out by the equally famous Jean Mus.
Bernard Lambert, CEO of Groupe Monte-Carlo SBM says: “Thanks to this project, we have succeeded in respecting the beauty of a remarkable location and planting species that are typical on the shores of the Mediterranean. Not only have we met an aesthetic challenge, we have also given back to this paradisiacal haven some of its original vegetation.
Four hundred cubic meters of soil were necessary to achieve this colossal task, to create the pine forest around the Beach.
The structured decor takes into consideration the sea and the wind as explained by Jean Mus: “The challenge was to recreate the original Mediterranean seashore scenery.” A gentle revolution, its focal point being a cocoon of greenery that has been renewed but not spoiled.”
This extraordinary setting has always boasted rich flora, mastic and myrtles, symbols of abundance. Aleppo pines play an important role in emphasising perspectives: some fifteen giant trees measuring between 7 and 9 metres impose their high silhouette, creating shadow and light. Consecrating the very sensuality of the vegetation, heady fragrances fill the air. A delicate scent thanks notably to the cheesewood, ornamental shrubs with a bewitching aroma similar to orange blossom.
The Monte Carlo Beach: a reservoir of oxygen, surrounded by nature.
Elsa, the gourmet restaurant of all the Rivieras
Chef Jean-Claude Brugel, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 1996, and his team are impatient to let you appreciate the different facets of a unique gastronomic experience.
Elsa, the gourmet restaurant, is the big innovation this year. It is the reflection of contemporary cuisine stemming from the culinary history of the French and Italian Rivieras and the excellence of its traditions. Creativity, originality and savoir-faire are the buzzwords of the generous and inventive menu carefully concocted by Jean-Claude Brugel and his team.
With the spotlight on top quality local produce, whilst carefully respecting seasonal cuisine, guests will savour dishes including plancha of grilled vegetables, warm anchoïade, sea bream carpaccio, asparagus and fennel served tartar-style, carrot top soup, fried scallops, argan oil.
The Mediterranean has pride of place and its finest fish and shellfish will be prepared simply in order to preserve the flavours: fillet of red mullet, dry fennel puree with lemon, pink langouste navarin, tarragon leaf.
As usual, dishes prepared by the chef at the Monte Carlo Beach will feature great meats cooked in the subtlest of ways: Roast rack of lamb with thyme, kidney coated with mustard seeds and sautéed beef fillet, young vegetables, gravy.
Guests will be able to choose desserts such as citrus fruit macaroon, panna cotta Madirofolo and Provencal apricots in puff pastry, chilled quenelle with honey and fromage blanc. The menu is full of many delicious and wonderful surprises. Each day the Chef will cook with produce fresh from the market served in the finest of settings... the paradisiacal surroundings of the Monte Carlo Beach combined with elegant and faultless decor and highly considerate service.
Fine bottles discovered by the head sommelier, prestigious champagnes… tasting these will be a pure delight for serious wine lovers and will make the Elsa gourmet restaurant a must for the most discerning epicureans. It is open every day for lunch and dinner. Guests staying in the suites will be able to order directly from their rooms — another “plus” for the clients at the Monte Carlo Beach.
Elsa, the gourmet restaurant, is named after Elsa Maxwell, the Société des Bains de Mer’s first ever PR, who organised the inauguration of the Beach.
A gastronomic paradise, the Monte Carlo Beach invites you to discover its other gourmet venues: the Deck, the Vigie, the Sea Lounge. According to the time and mood, you can savour chef Jean-Claude Brugel’s cuisine in relaxed mode by the pool in front of the Deck, on the terrace at the Vigie, tucked away in the greenery with just one other guest — the Mediterranean below, or in the chic and trendy surroundings of the Sea Lounge.
“11heures/23 heures”
The Lobby or the art of relaxed gastronomy
In order to satisfy a clientele wishing to eat top quality food quickly, the Monte Carlo Beach has come up with a new conception of gastronomy.
From now on, it is in the magical and very special ambiance of the Lobby that sumptuous snacks or a relaxing drink can be enjoyed at the “11 heures/23 heures”.
All day long – from 11:00 until 23:00 – the Lobby will serve uncomplicated gastronomy. A brief yet innovative menu and efficient and smooth running service will ensure greater conviviality and relaxation.
The mouth-watering snacks include mozzarella agathes and yellow tomatoes, smoked and grilled fillet of salmon and aubergines, caviar finger and chilled brut champagne, chicken nems, curry-fruit veal on a skewer — this selection will satisfy the desires of just about everyone.
Just need to quench one’s thirst ?
The Ronnefeldt tea ceremony, juice and fruit nectar by Alain Milliat, H2O the water bar, the beer cellar, the finest spirits and brandies, flutes of Champagne, glasses of wines from Provence and, of course, the indispensable espresso coffee from all over the world. You will find everything you need right here.
The Beach Club, a corner of paradise
With the return of the fine weather, the desire for leisure and al fresco lunches grows stronger and stronger. That alone is a good reason for making the most of the paradisiacal Beach Club and its Olympic-size seawater pool heated to 24°. In this dreamlike setting on the shores of the Mediterranean, the private beach with its chic stripy tents awaits you with open arms. No need to look anywhere else... the Beach Club has everything for maximum relaxation.
The myriad Sunday brunch ambiances will surprise you: at the Deck in May, in June at the Sea Lounge, La Vigie in July and August, and back to the Deck in September and October. Three magical places for moments of pure happiness to be enjoyed with family or friends.
Fans of water sports can choose from jet-ski, parasailing, inflatable (torpedo, flying chair) and water-skiing.
The famous Sea Lounge has opened its doors to a world of exotic and zen elegance. After some enjoyable swimming, come and take a break at 16:00 in the haven of glamour and relaxation where, from 18:00 to midnight, you can party to the sounds of resident DJ Lorenzo DiGrasso! Chef Jean-Claude Brugel proposes gourmet tapas, world cuisine and – something brand new – sushis (served non-stop).
Throughout the season, the Sea Lounge hosts prestigious soirées, starting on 22 May with the “Buddha Bar at Sea Lounge”.
From May to October, the spotlight is on relaxation at the Monte-Carlo Spa: Massages on the beach in air-conditioned booths near the Sea Lounge, in a tent facing the sea. A large range of massages are available: Circulatory, sports, plantar, repairing and, new this year, a massage using argan oil (purchased in Morocco as part of a cooperative programme supported by the Albert II Foundation).
This is a terrific place for children. Youngsters (ages 3 to 8) can enjoy many activities at the Kiddy Club from 1st July to 31st August. Supervised by trained staff, they can take part in themed fun every day and have lunch and an afternoon snack. There are arcade games for teenagers.
Access to the Beach Club is free for hotel guests and holders of the Carte d’Or Monte-Carlo SBM. Outside clients are welcome too; their entry fee entitles them to a sun-lounger and towel.
For everyone at every moment... something is always happening at the Monte Carlo Beach!
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