MONA to build affordable hotel by 2016
MONA Pavilions on the River Derwent are high-end retreats.
Business Events Tasmania CEO, Stuart Nettlefold, said the building application for a hotel and conference facilities had been approved for construction on the grounds if its hugely popular gallery on Berriedale Bay.
MONA mastermind David Walsh is said to have narrowed down the field to two competing de two contrasting designs for the new building: one a dominating high rise, the other similar to the existing museum and connected to it via a tunnel.
The interior of MONA, a $100 million private museum and gallery outside Hobart.
Guests can currently stay at MONA in deluxe “Pavilions” for up to $1,000 a night, but the hotel is believed to be more affordable with Japanese style capsule rooms $80 per night.
“Most hotels seem to emphasise eliteness and I always want to break that down,” Walsh said. “We’ve done the numbers and a MONA hotel would be, I suspect, pretty productive.”
Gambling millionaire Walsh opened MONA on 21 January 2011, and has been credited for revitalising the Tasmanian economy.
