We are in the Paopao’s valley surrounded by beautiful mountains.
In the bay of Paopao in front of supermarket SUPER U ARE, take the road towards the valley. We are 1,5 km from the main road on the lefthand side.
An eco-conscious building in the heart of the valley
Fa’atura Metua Vahine – respect for Mother Earth!
The connection to nature is deeply embedded in the Polynesian lifestyle, it is lost in urban sprawl but thrives in rural areas.
We are inspired from Polynesian practices, use local materials and learned and adapted to put forward our very best service!
We seek to demonstrate that it is possible to produce sustainably in ways that respect the environment as much as possible.
A pilot project
At Food & CookLab, we seek to:
- use energy as consciously as possible via non industrial processes
- ethically model the way for future businesses that are ecologically minded
Reduce, reuse and recycle!
The construction of our building was almost fully focused around shipping containers. Part of the island life linked with the outside world. The container holds several advantages: re-using, its availability, simple implementation and price. The history of the first contact between Polynesians and settlers reminds us of the importance of iron. Nails were a bargaining chip. Today, the transport of goods has become massive. Container carriers deposit small and large containers that sometimes sit unused in our beautiful landscape. We said: let’s use them! Surround them with beautiful local woods! And let’s show that we can relocate our consumption and transform our local production! Lowering our need for outside dependance!
The Food & CookLab is located in the little village of PAOPAO, « route des ananas », Pineapple road, in the agricultural district on the island of Moorea.
One of the first features of the building is to offer two distinct yet complementary spaces, the FoodLab, a processing laboratory, and the CookLab, a culinary space. These spaces were created facilitate the learning cooking local products simply and then enjoying them on site.
With the nature of the containers in mind, we designed a U-shaped space which opened up to the outside for the CookLab and culinary space. The shape also allows for a closed space for the FoodLab and laboratory.
The containers are fully covered with wood slats from Tubuai (austral islands) and protected with a green roof which effortlessly fits in to the beautiful green landscape of the valley. We also are equipped with a fully functional ramp for easy accessibility.