MONTE-CARLO

CHAMPAGNE AUX SPELUGUES BY ALBA BASILE

In conjunction with an exhibition honouring Edmond Pastor, being hosted at ESPACE 22 in Monaco in September, ARCAWEB is publishing this recollection of a story of friendship and sharing among three visionaries passionate about architecture and cars, which resulted in the creation of 'Le Contact,' a legendary location for the Monegasque Dolce Vita designed in the late 1980s by the Italian architect Gianni Arnaudo.

Hemingway would certainly have liked this story. Nighttime and the elegant backlighting of a bar. A glass of champagne on the bar top and somebody behind it who knows how to listen to secret thoughts without ever betraying them.  Sitting at a table are three visionary men - Stefano Casiraghi, Emile Novaro, Edmond Pastor - who for a moment imagine a different life, like a scene from an old-time movie. Those used to facing challenges grasp the sense of freedom they bring, not the difficulties they entail.  That's why opening a new champagne bar in Monte Carlo did not seem like a big deal, even if the chosen spot was really small. The project was designed by Gianni Arnaudo, whose work has always been anything but ordinary. And so Le Contact came into being along the Grand Prix circuit, just before Loews bend (now called Fairmont).

Affiche by Gianni Arnaudo

The space provided by Edmond Pastor covered less than 70 square meters, but it was big enough to use the checkerboard design on the floors and wall mirrors to recreate the flashing feel of racing cars roaring along Avenue des Spélugues and across the tops of the tables lined up in the bar, like a moment from a race captured from above. Parts of the bodywork of the fabulous Lamborghini Countach were adapted for the lighting and furnishings: the Italian architect selected them directly from the Lamborghini factory in Sant’Agata Bolognese with the help of Emile Novaro, the legendary manager of the company with the Bull logo. And the champagne/wine cellar? It was located in the “spélugues” under the bar thanks to the spectacular transformation of a floor tile into a hidden elevator, something straight out of a movie. In 1990, Lee Iacocca, president of Chrysler, officially opened Le Contact, and the dream was for Lamborghini to commit to motor racing. But that’s another story. Alba Basile

Drawing by Gianni Arnaudo