At a current count of approximately 120, Paris contains the greatest concentration of museums per square-meter worldwide. Following in footsteps of similar European capitals including Rome, Venice, and Barcelona, a surging increase in tourists has begun to drive urban Paris toward becoming a “living conservatory,” according to Parisian design firm MenoMenoPiu.
This has, as result, led to a “gradual decentralization” of the city’s less-interested citizens, according to a press release issued by MenoMenoPiu. To reinvigorate areas of cultural significance and offer a solution for short-term tourist housing, MenoMenoPiu proposes a concept of capsule hotel rooms, dubbed EauBerge—a play on auberge, the French word for an inn—along the Seine. The design draws inspiration from the city’s embankment-side booksellers, as well as Japanese cabin hotels.
MenoMenoPiu’s scheme calls for a series of modular structures, perched on stilted platforms along the banks of the Seine (near Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral), to reduce the visual toll such constructions should assume on the city’s natural landscape.
Each of the metal-framed cabins would contain one or two small bedrooms, measuring 43-square feet and 75 square-feet, respectively, and a lavatory.
Although the project remains purely conceptual at this point, the firm’s leadership is pursuing the proposal with the relevant authorities.
