by SPY_VONDEGA on JUNE 18, 2010 - 3 Comments in PEOPLE
Helena - will not compromise on comfort
Eco-curious supermodel, Helena Christensen went all the way to Rome to promote ecofriendly hotel, Save the Beach, but admits that she checked out just hours later as she couldn’t cope with the toilets.
The 41-year-old supermodel was at the world’s first hotel built out of the rubbish found on Europe’s beaches, as part of Save The Beach Campaign. It comes complete with portable toilets, no showers and ripped sheets for curtains.
Scan the walls of the hotel and you feel like you are rummaging through the wares of a flea market. There is a mannequin’s leg, drink cans, shoes, lolly wrappers, stuffed toys, a toy gun and a broken guitar. All of this debris scooped up from the beaches of Europe. The hotel sits in stark contrast beside the second century Castel Sant’Angelo and Vatican City.
The junk hotel was dreamed up by German artist HA Schult. ”It’s made of garbage because wherever you go on this planet is garbage,” he said. ”We are living in the garbage time on the planet which we only have rented.”
Helena has long been an environmental activist, taking cold showers and using candles instead of electric lights. But the Danish-born model says she quit in the early hours of the morning after a few beers with the other guests (the event was sponsored by Corona).
“I am not too squeamish but I couldn’t stomach a Portaloo when natured called,” she tells us.
“I was the first guest to check in. The bed was made from wood and bits of concrete, the walls covered with an exhaust, tyres, plastic bottles and other rubbish that people had left behind on beaches.
“There were only five rooms so it was very friendly. I am disgusted by the way people drop rubbish all over our beautiful beaches. But I bailed out in the early hours when I saw the toilet.”
Former Victoria’s Secret model Helena, who has a 10-year-old son Mingus, added: “I hope I’ve made my point but I didn’t want to start training for festival toilets.
“I’d rather go behind a tree than in a Portaloo – they’re horrible.”
The hotel accommodates up to 50 guests and can be flat-packed and moved around the world.
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3 comments
I’m with her. I avoid public events for that very reason.
I prefer the smell of Sphagnum moss to that horrible disinfectant they use.
lol, good on her
we need compost toilets and buildings made of wood
wood is the ideal eco friendly building material
I’m with you Helena .I’d rather go in the woods then a portabox.I was brought up in the greener side of Canada and loved it. We made our own fun growing up ,anyways if anybody is interestested in getting away from it all for a short time.Planning to leave this winter for a Kayak trip going from florida to Bahama’s and so on if this tweek’s anybody write me.Trust me it’s a blast of alife time i live off the sea and the islands .
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