fathom Blog

Cool Pick: Le Meridien Chambers Hotel, Minneapolis

Posted by christine in Branding, Space. 5/11/2010, 3:02 PM

Places are more than the sum of their parts. An office is not just a desk, a chair, a framed family portrait. A hockey arena is more than its ice, a hospital more than its operating suites. Places are experiences, explorations of physical senses and emotional connections. And these experiences can be elevated beyond the mundane — turned into enriching, extraordinary things.

On a recent trip to Minneapolis, Minn., we had the pleasure of stumbling upon Le Méridien Chambers Hotel, an art-lovers’ oasis in the middle of the Midwest. After checking into a nearby standard chain (nice, but boring), we were on the lookout for a local dinner spot, and ended up at Le Méridien Chambers’s restaurant. We were so impressed with the hotel’s creative environment, we chucked the initial reservation and stayed the night.

The boutique hotel offered us an experience beyond just a bed, a shower and a Continental breakfast buffet. The 60-room Le Méridien Chambers is home to more than 200 pieces of original contemporary art, including works by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Angus Fairhurst, Gary Hume and Sam Taylor-Wood. Art is integrated into public spaces and private guestrooms, as well as on display in the Burnet Gallery, named after prominent art collector Ralph Burnet, who originally opened the hotel in 2006 as the Chambers. In early 2010, the Chambers was bought by Paris-born hotel brand Le Méridien, which is so committed to creating innovative visitor experiences that it’s appointed its own “cultural curator” and even developed a signature hotel scent with Le Labo luxury perfumier founders Fabrice Penot and Eddie Rosh.

Art pervades Le Méridien Chambers. Walnut woven doors greeted us at the main entrance; a five-story mural runs the entire height of the main stairwell; room keycards feature work by select contemporary artists, video art lined our guestroom corridors. While sampling the sea scallops with Brussels sprouts and bacon, lamb meatballs, and the amazing house made gelati at D’Amico Kitchen & Osteria, we watched live, streaming video of its kitchen activity on a massive screen affixed to an outdoor courtyard wall.

Our goal at fathom is to connect people emotionally with an experience, and Le Méridien Chambers is an inspiring, sensory-rich example of that emotional connection. It takes art out of the self-contained museum, and turns it into something living, making the mundane hotel visit an experience to contemplate, to savor, and to remember.