Member Article

Cardiff Hotel transformed into a giant living brain for TV

Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff has been transformed into a billboard for a world-first image of a live human brain as part of a BBC TV documentary on mental health.

Charlotte Church: Inside my Brain, aired last week on BBC One in Wales and followed the Welsh singer as she explored depression, mental illness and research into new cures.

The show features Sleeperz Cardiff, an award-winning design-led hotel, which producers used as a projector screen for the world-first brain scan – referred to as a ‘road map’ – showing the complex wiring of a living brain.

The image is the ground-breaking work of Dr Chantal Tax from Cardiff University’s Brain Research Imaging Centre and was beamed onto the wall of Sleeperz Hotel in November last year.

Laura Peeroo, general manager at Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff, said: “Sleeperz Cardiff was thrilled to be asked to take part in ‘Charlotte Church: Inside my Brain.’

We are located in one of the busiest footfall areas in Cardiff, on route to the rail station, and the living brain image really turned heads and got people talking; which is exactly what this important programme hopes to achieve.“

Sleeperz Hotels worked with production company Boom Cymru and presenter Charlotte Church to stage the public spectacle and the hotel features as a prominent backdrop in the programme.

Sleeperz Cardiff opened in 2008, opposite the then Millennium Stadium and under two minutes’ walk from Cardiff Rail Station.

It’s modern, minimalist look earned it a RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) award for architectural excellence in 2010.

Planning consent was granted in 2017 for Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff to build an additional 21 rooms, increasing its stock to 93 city centre rooms.

Javeed Anwar, Head of Sales and Marketing for Sleeperz Hotels, said: “It’s normal to receive unusual requests in the hospitality industry, but, in over three decades working in hotels this is easily the most unusual collaboration I’ve been involved with.

Sleeperz Hotels loved it and our guests were both intrigued and understanding about the bright lights, cameras and sight of Charlotte Church enjoying a cup of tea in our lounge bar.“

Charlotte Church: Inside my Brain is available to watch on BBC I Player in the UK.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matthew Moore .