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DESIGNER HOTEL
Text: Dorothée BécartDREAM NIGHT AND NIGHT OF DREAMS
Five Hôtel
Huddled in the heart of the Latin Quarter, at night the Five hotel takes on the feel of a little cozy nest where design and high-tech are in the employ of only one purpose: making your nights magic.
Only two years ago, the Five Hotel was a small dilapidated boarding house, dozens of which are dotted around Paris.
That was until Philippe Vaurs, hailing from Aveyron (southern France), announced his intention to buy and turn it into the receptacle of his dreams. With the help of Vincent Bastie, the man who had already managed to concoct a warm and highly modern feel for the Murano, he embarked upon creating a romantic world of dreams. The result revolves around 24 rooms with unique atmospheres: beds levitate in the blue-tinted glow of an (illusionary) star-lit night, and guests embark upon a highly sensual stationary journey. The name relates as much to Paris’s 5th district, the location of the hotel, as to the five senses that are awakened one after the other by the Five’s setting and design. Five good reasons to spend your Valentine’s night right here.
Sight
In one night, the Five Hotel offers its guests a piece of the sky. The traditional four-poster bed transforms itself into a space capsule, alight with dozens of stars (which are nothing more than fiber optics). And since you can do anything in dreams, in some of the rooms it is even possible to vary the color of these distant suns…
Sound
Even though the Five Hotel would be at home in any romantic fantasy, it is nevertheless a cocoon of high-tech.
Huddled in one of its 24 boudoirs, it is easy to lend an ear to the beauty or chaos of the world thanks to the 400 channels playing on Loewe flat screens. Unless you prefer to curl up in the hushed silence of your room…
Taste
In the basement, the breakfast room welcomes guests barely woken from their dreams. Waking up is delicious: croissants from a famous Parisian bakery and Frères Mariage teas are enjoyed in a perky ambiance to set you on the right foot before going back into the real world…
Feel
At the Five, the cold metal goes slumming with leather, the walls are dressed in felt or bricks, and the fireplace takes the guise of a large suitcase left behind by a tanner. From the lobby to the bedrooms, the lacquers of artist Isabelle Emmerique, unique works of art, want to be caressed… with the eyes.
Fragrance
To further intoxicate lovers come for refuge in the cozy nests of the Five Hotel, each room is equipped with an essential oil diffuser. Surrender yourself blissfully to the five fragrances on offer to suit all your moods: Zest, Relaxing, Delicious, Natural or… Sensual.
VINCENT BASTIE
Architect of the Five Hotel
Like the Murano, the Five Hotel was an old building that you renovated. Was that a challenge for you?
The Five’s building was dilapidated and had nothing going for it. We gutted it completely and created the lift shaft, la fire escape staircase and the breakfast room in the basement. We realized relatively quickly that if we wanted four rooms on each floor, the space would be considerably reduced. There is a trick to making space bigger: filling it up! The more you put in it, the more the eye, instead of stopping on one color, one light, one pattern, sees a dozen, and the space appears bigger.
Let’s talk about the ubiquitous use of fiber optics throughout the hotel. Why the emphasis on this device?
Making use of lighting scales, small sources of light have been introduced because they seem distant and so produce the illusion of depth. We have also used them between the bathroom tiles, which has, I think, never been done. It was complicated to execute: precision work.
You made use of a range of high-tech elements, but without the feel becoming cold and clinical. The flying carpet and the four-poster bed are reminiscent of old clichés, with a modern twist. What is your concept of high-tech?
New technologies are becoming romantic. In fact, none of the technology employed by the hotel is complicated: anyone can use them immediately and in so doing, make them their own and personalize their stay.
LE FIVE HÔTEL
3, Rue Flatters 75005 Paris Tel.: +33 (0)1 43 31 74 21
E-mail : contact@thefivehotel-paris.com
Website: www.thefivehotel-paris.com
Rooms: from €150 (1 pers. standard) to €320 (suite with Jacuzzi)