Inntel Hotel Amsterdam-Zaandam

Zaandam town centre is being radically revamped on the basis of an urban development plan by Sjoerd Soeters. Soeters is reinstating the historical street layout, reconstructing an urban waterway and reintroducing atmosphere into the somewhat impersonal and dull town centre, employing magnified stylistic features of the historical Zaanse Schans village. The plan by Soeters incorporates a new hotel.

Design
The hotel, which stands on the Provincialeweg, is the new centre’s eye-catcher. The building with 160 rooms and a conference complex will in part be constructed on a viaduct. The colossal, twelve-storey-high hotel tower, essentially square in plan, is a monumental stacking and interpretation of various green-painted house types typical of the Zaan region, ranging from a stately notary’s dwelling to worker’s cottages. ‘The Blue House’, inspired by the work Claude Monet painted at Zaandam in 1871, is the ultimate attention-grabber. The overall result is striking. The varied fenestration, broad protruding sections and bay windows, and decorative white ridge-pieces lend depth and an expressive relief to the façade.

Hotel Zaanstad BV, Heddes Bouw BV

© Molenaar & Van Winden architecten / WAM architecten