Matali Crasset created an ecological house in the Tunisian desert.

After the experience of the HI hotel in Nice, now Dar HI in Nefta which is the fruit of the collaboration between Matali Crasset, Patrick Elouarghi and Philippe Chapelet with a new concept of eco-retreat.

Matali literally rose a citadel, from the sand, dedicated to well being. Protected by surroundings walls you find a composition of elevated houses that constitute the Dar HI as a small village. The overall architectural goal was to give a strong proposition while in harmony with the natural site and the local life.

Dar HI’s main colors are ochre and sand with a comprehensive choice of body and spirit care within areas that are private or communal, a pool, a restaurant and a Spa.

The dialogue and collaboration between Philippe Chapelet, Patrick Elouarghi and Matali Crasset started in 2005. They all decided to push the contemporary experience a bit further with Dar HI a new concept of hospitality and serenity.

They all have a common interest always to question their ideas and the desire to conceive innovative projects; those are the main reasons why their collaboration is so dynamic.

Matali Crasset develops a design that is meant to be practical and believes in initiatives that have a sense locally but also collectively.

Patrick and Philippe are creative entrepreneurs that are always ahead of their time. They are driven by the renewal of propositions, the reinvention of codes and sites and the research on contemporary hotel industry and wellbeing.

Dar HI is not only another project. “The HI Hotel wasn’t meant to be duplicated: it has been conceived as a laboratory that is not duplicable”, says matali. The project is articulated around notions of wellbeing and eco-retreat in an unexpected and magical site.

“Dar HI is not a hotel nor a classical SPA but more a place where you can experience withdrawal and benefit from a spiritual thalassotherapy a few hours away from Paris and in the middle of the desert”, explains Patrick Elouarghi.

The DARHI team has created privileged relationships with the inhabitants of the village who will be taking care of the house. The gardeners will till the garden that will be the main source of vegetables and fruits. The cooks will propose a variety of local and simple dishes. No high gastronomy nor imported products, even less so called authentic cuisine for tourists, but a self-sufficient and local development approach. Here artificial folklore is not necessary.