Demolition work is poised to commence on an iconic brutalist hotel that is believed to have inspired a striking piece of the original Star Wars: A New Hope movie set.
Reports of the impending destruction of the Hotel du Lac, in Tunis, Tunisia, have sparked outrage and resistance from residents, architects, and heritage specialists across the North African nation.
The 1973 creation by Italian architect Raffaele Contigiani is regarded as a brutalist masterpiece. It represents an architectural movement that emerged in the mid-20th century utilising industrial materials, scale and concepts of practicality.
The Hotel du Lac was ordered by Tunisia’s inaugural president, Habib Bourguiba, following the nation’s independence from France, precipitating a surge in tourism. Consequently, the inverted pyramid structure has evolved into a significant and distinctive cultural symbol for the country’s residents.
“The hotel is a unique witness to a certain age,” Mohamed Zitouni, a Tunis-based architect involved in the preservation campaign, told the BBC several years ago. “It’s one of the rare buildings after Tunisian independence that shows vision and maturity.”
During its heyday, the 416-room establishment served as a glamorous and appealing holiday destination, the Mirror reports. The Du Lac drew in celebrities from around the world, including James Brown, and allegedly influenced Star Wars designers who based a space vehicle on its design.
Fans of George Lucas’ space opera may notice a striking resemblance between its distinctive shape and that of the Sandcrawler, a ground-based vehicle used by the diminutive Jawas on the sand-covered planet of Tatooine. In ‘A New Hope’, it is in front of this vehicle that Luke Skywalker first meets robot companions R2-D2 and C3-PO.
Regrettably, Hotel du Lac’s glory days ended in 2000 following years of alleged poor management. In 2011, former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali offloaded the property to Libyan government-owned investment fund Lafico, according to CNN.
Renovation schemes were proposed but never came to fruition, leaving the structure abandoned for the past quarter of a century.
The choice to tear down Hotel du Lac was officially announced to AFP at the end of August by Hadi Alfitory, director of the Libyan public investment fund Lafico.
He declared that the building had deteriorated into “a ruin” and required demolition. Mr Alfitory confirmed he had secured all required permissions from Tunisian authorities for the teardown, the Middle East Eye reported.
The publication states that a $150m (£110m) shopping centre and a new 20-storey luxury hotel that will retain the same concept and form as the old building will be constructed in its place.
A campaign to preserve the hotel – which appears to have been launched in vain – has garnered more than 3,000 signatures.
“The City of Tunis would be remiss to demolish this symbolic structure. With this petition, we call on the Mayor of Tunis to step in immediately and STOP any plans for its DEMOLITION. The City must come to see the opportunity that repurposing the space holds – maybe as a museum, an innovation space, or a conference center – the location could literally not be more strategic,” the description of the petition reads. “In neglecting our rich modern and ancient history, we aren’t just losing our identity, but we are also losing economic opportunity.”