A new gallery installation and hotel which challenges the excess of unused space in a time of rising homelessness has opened its doors in Canberra. On Friday 2 September, Hotel Mottainai officially launched in a vacant office space in the London Court Building on London Circuit in City West.

The immersive art experience highlights the way people seek shelter in abandoned spaces, while the repurposed office space challenges the idea that we don’t have space to provide for those without a secure home.

Hotel Mottainai comes from the minds of husband-and-wife duo Ronan and Clare Moss, whose talents shine through in the project. Ronan is a director at Cox Architecture and an artist, while Clare is a consultant for the Smith Family and has a background in performing arts and education.

The pair began toying with the idea of creating something after having conversations with friends and colleagues about the juxtaposition between the worsening homelessness crisis and the amount of vacant space across the ACT.

“The concept really calls attention to empty spaces in an age of homelessness, calls to recycling in an age of excess, it calls to art in an age of disconnection,” Clare says.

‘Mottainai’ is a Japanese word that can be translated as ‘don’t waste anything worthy’ and is often used to portray a sense of regret or guilt when something is thrown away or disregarded but its full value can be derived. 

“It’s been a springboard for a really strong environmental movement; we just felt like when we were thinking about a name, it fitted perfectly in terms of what we were doing with the fit out.”

Stepping onto the first floor of the otherwise tenanted building, where you would normally find cubicles and the hum of a workspace, you are instead greeted by a showcase of local talent.

“It’s really raw and its very industrial and at no point have we tried to mask the fact that it a commercial space; there is a homage to that throughout while making it is luxe as possible,” Clare says.

The public exhibition space showcases the work of the local artists, which spills onto the walls of the hotel where local street artists have created bright and striking murals. The art hanging on the walls in the exhibition and hotel are for sale. The plan is to rotate the exhibition space each month to continue to frame local artists. The opening work has been done by people they know, including Ronan himself; in the future they will put a call out for more.

“We were really keen to support local artists especially coming out of the pandemic where art across the globe has really struggled,” Clare says.

The exhibition space will not be open to the public when a guest is staying in the hotel and when there is a public event on, the hotel room will be used as an overflow for the art on display. Guests will be able to view the works in the gallery when they are staying. A viewing platform created from re-purposed glass panels allows them to watch Alex James’ relaxing cloudscape this month.

The community minded project has also been fuelled by community members with its creation being driven by the barter system and pro-bono contributions.  The floorspace has been gifted by the building’s owner, HTI Group, while building company, Shape, generously built what Clare refers to as ‘a box within a box, within a box’ as the pop-up hotel space.

“We just love it. The room itself is fitted out with recycled and repurposed furniture; everything that hasn’t is on loan or was bought second-hand. The only new purchases were the linen, towels and bed, a little bit luxe there,” Clare smiles.

All the profits from hotel bookings will go to the YWCA Canberra, a local not-for-profit feminist organisation that has been helping local women and girls since 1929.

“It’s a great organisation that really aligns with our values and purpose. 100 per cent of the profits from the accommodation fee goes directly to the YWCA, which is looking at building accommodation for homeless women and children,” Clare says.

Even before the launch, the hotel space had already secured 24 overnight bookings – most of them from people in the Canberra region who want a staycation or to support the cause, Clare explains.  

“I think it was just a creative way to reimagine commercial spaces, also an out of the box experience to the usual framework of a hotel experience. It’s raw and novel and something a bit different,” she says.

To find out more, visit hotelmottainai.com.au

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