‘How can you improve the look of the hotelboat, in order to make it fit in with the dynamics and creativity of the NDSM wharf, in the north of Amsterdam?’
This was the question that Botel-owner Sandra Chedi put to MMX architecten (Arjan van Ruyven & Michiel van Pelt) in 2011. Together with filmmaker and architect Jord den Hollander they developed a bold plan. Five 6.5-meter-high hotelrooms in the shape of huge toy letters make up the silhouette B O T E L on top of the ship. The white hotel boat has been given a cheerful crown, referring to the chimneys of the ocean liners that used to come off the now derelict NDSM slipways.
For the interiors of the letters MMX came up with the idea to challenge several designers. Richard Hutten designed a half-pipe in the B, Ronald Hoofd (&Prast&Hooft) was inspired by the book L’Histoire d’O for O and architect Moriko Kira turned the L into an oasis of calm. Designer Jord den Hollander made the smallest cinema of the Netherlands in the E, and MMX architecten saw in the top room of the T the captain’s quarters of Botel.
Letter B
Letter O
Letter T
Letter E
Letter L
CLIENT: Amstel Botel, Sandra Chedi
DESIGN: MMX architecten with Jord den Hollander
START DESIGN: 2011
START CONSTRUCTION: 2014
COMPLETION: 2015
INTERIOR DESIGN: ‘B’ – Richard Hutten, ‘O’ – &Prast&Hooft, ‘T’ – MMX architecten, ‘E’ – Jord den Hollander, ‘L’ – Moriko Kira
CONSULTANTS: Engineering Letters – Bartels & Vedder, Overall Engineering – Pieters Bouwtechniek, Building Management – Stone 22, Paul Nijhout
MAIN BUILDING PARTNERS: PS Frames Letter – EPS Products with Thijs Zwakman, Interior Finishing – Fiction Factory
PHOTOS: Marcel van der Burg, Janiek Dam, Yvone Witte