Paris plans London Eye-style ‘water-wheel hotel’ on the banks of the Seine
FRENCH architects are planning to build a “water-wheel hotel” on the banks of the Seine that will resemble the London Eye but have “room capsules” that will constantly rotate.
The “wheel hotel” will turn constantly at a slow speed, powered by batteries charged by the current of the river and making one complete rotation every half hour. The views from its 19 rooms will change as the 12ft cylindrical pods move.
Maxime Barbier, 41, and Luc Delamain, 53, architects from the firm SCAU, are in discussion with municipal officials in Paris and Bordeaux.
“They’re interested in the project but there are a lot of formalities first, especially in Paris,” Mr Barbier told The
Daily Telegraph.
“In Bordeaux they’re very enthusiastic and there’s less red tape.”
Like the Eiffel Tower, which was built as a temporary structure for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, the wheel hotel is not intended to be permanent.
“It is made of wood and it will only take four days to assemble or dismantle it, so it could be transported by barge and re-erected elsewhere on the river,” Mr Barbier said.
The barge, moored alongside the wheel, would serve as a bar and restaurant, where guests could wait for their room pod to descend to entry level. “They would never have to wait longer than 30 minutes to enter or leave,” according to Mr Barbier.
“Each room will have a toilet and bathroom, with a tank under the floor to collect waste water, which will be emptied by a pump every morning, but water usage will be limited to 30 litres a day,” he said.
Paris officials confirmed that the plan was under consideration but said it would not be allowed to remain at any one site for longer than six months under French regulations.
“It will be cheap to make, costing only a few million euros at most, and the idea is to put it up temporarily on the banks of rivers in big cities, preferably opposite exceptional monuments like the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben,” Mr Barbier said.
A night in the wheel will cost around €300 (£215).