Hotel du Lac, hotel in Tunis, Tunisia
Hotel du Lac is a brutalist concrete building on the edge of the lake in Tunis, Tunisia. Its floors widen toward the top, giving the structure the shape of an inverted pyramid, with the uppermost level being the broadest part of the building.
The building was designed by Italian architect Raffaele Contigiani and completed in 1973. It was built during a period when Tunisia was actively promoting modern architecture as a sign of openness and progress.
The name of the building comes from the lake it faces, a body of water that locals and visitors have long used as a reference point in the city. The inverted pyramid silhouette makes it easy to spot from a distance, and many people in Tunis use it as a landmark when giving directions.
The building is within walking distance of the city center, close to Avenue Habib Bourguiba, and can be viewed easily from the outside. The hotel is not currently operating, so access inside is not available to visitors.
The shape of the building is often compared to the sand crawler vehicle from the first Star Wars film, an observation that architecture and film fans frequently make when they see it. Less commonly known is that its foundations go down around 60 meters, which was necessary because of the soft ground near the lakeshore.
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