La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich is the latest addition to the magnificent collection of hotels driven by Michel Reybier’s vision. A proud, serene building built 110 years ago on the lakefront, the hotel was completely revisited by Michel Reybier and designer Philippe Starck, who filled the site with art and instilled in it a feeling of rebellion. Their idea was to release the light, maximize the architectural volumes and reveal the structural soul and raw poetry of the place while concocting a very special form of alchemy.
The hotel’s fabled façade and the blue and white striped blinds that protect its elaborate balconies, lion heads and other historical sculptures were preserved as reminders of an elegant leisure spirit dating back to the early twentieth century. Natural materials including original brick, marble and flooring were restored to infuse the place with a spirit of timeless modernity.
The iconic establishment was reborn as a yacht club by the lake, a haven that is at once imaginary and very concrete, full of sentimental pieces that evoke the nautical world and poetic objects placed here and there to stimulate the curiosity and imagination of guests, embarking them upon imaginary journeys to places both real and imagined . . .