Opening for MILESTONE winners

200 hundred apples, ten bicycles, 300 carrots and 200 leeks were the main characters in an unusual art project in Zurich Nord. The surrealistic creations can be admired in the "climate-neutral rooms" at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Zurich Nord.

 

Restaurant max, a restaurant, bar and lounge in Zurich-Oerlikon played host to an unusual opening. Students from the "Berufsschule für Gestaltung medien form farbe" had arranged fruit, vegetables and bicycles around the neighbourhood, and then taken pictures of them. Their work has now been presented to the public. After the exhibit closes, the art will hang in rooms at the Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Zurich Nord to encourage guests to protect the climate. The project is a local environmental and climate protection initiative by the hotel, which in autumn of 2012 won Switzerland's prestigious Milestone tourism award in the Environment category.

The students in the first-year Polygraphics class set up photos of 200 apples, ten bicycles, 300 carrots and 200 leeks. What resulted were surrealistic motifs that automatically give the viewer pause for thought. The photos will not just adorn the walls of the hotel rooms; puzzles printed climate-neutrally with texts meant to encourage everyday climate-friendly behaviour will be given to every hotel guest who books a climate-neutral room.

Since July 2011, the hotel has been offering this type of room for an extra ten francs, and by booking it, guests not only support the ongoing KlimaLokal initiative, where the goal is to work with local residents to measurably cut down on CO₂ emissions, but can also rest easy, knowing that their stay is climate-neutral: Any emissions generated are offset by a climate protection project in Malawi. Locally, projects like "Klimakochen" or the Zurich Climate Audio Trail have been implemented with myclimate. The package has struck a chord with guests: Since its launch, guests have opted nearly 5,000 times for the "climate-neutral overnight stay".

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