AMSTERDAM BEYOND POT, IT’S GOT A LOT
City is designing its future based on a history of art, culture
Hôtel Droog is housed in a 17th-century building in the historical center of Amsterdam. But walk inside, and you’ll very much feel like part of the 21st century.
A design shop features such unusual and whimsical accessories as a lamp shaped as a milk bottle and a chair made of rags, to promote recycling.
Then there’s the Droog classic known as the Chest of Drawers, which has been exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Designer Tejo Remy bundled together several old drawers to create one chest. It was his way of criticizing consumerism in 1991, when he created the piece, but it remains popular to this day, at a price tag of about $22,000.
Hôtel Droog is a loose interpretation of a hotel. Only one room, located on the top floor, can be reserved. “The One and Only Bedroom” is actually an impeccably decorated one-bedroom apartment with impressive views across the rooftops of neighboring buildings.
To many U.S. travelers, Amsterdam has been known — much to the chagrin of its tourism officials — for a red-light district filled with coffee shops where most adults can legally buy marijuana. But now that marijuana has been legalized in U.S. states such as Colorado, Oregon and Washington, travelers no longer have to cross the Atlantic for such forbidden pleasures.
This small Dutch city wants to be known for its other attributes — its world-class museums, vibrant dining scene and trend-setting design and architectural accomplishments.
“People still think this is party paradise,” says Machteld Ligtvoet, communications manager of Amsterdam Marketing. “It’s not.”
Ligtvoet says the city has closed many of the coffee shops and allowed entrepreneurs and designers to take over the spaces. It also has spent millions of dollars on refurbishing historic buildings, including the famed Rijksmuseum, which houses many Vermeers and Rembrandts, including the latter’s masterpiece The Night Watch.
Designed by Pierre Cuypers, the castle-like building that blends neo- Gothic and neoRenaissance elements first opened in 1885. It shuttered its doors for a decade for a renovation. Since reopening in 2013, it has been one of Amsterdam’s most-visited museums.
Similarly, the Stedelijk Mu- seum, which opened in 1895, returned in 2012 after a four-year rehab. Located in the same square as the Rijksmuseum, the museum is devoted to modern and contemporary art and design, displaying works by Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol and other notable artists.
“We invested in buildings again because we have so much art and culture,” Ligtvoet says. “The buildings just needed to be modernized.”
This theme comes up again and again in Amsterdam.
“There seems to be an ongoing appetite for old buildings,” says Frank Uffen, a partner at The Student Hotel, a chain of hotels that doubles as student housing. “We don’t tear things down anymore. We re-use it.”
The recently opened Student Hotel in Amsterdam’s city center once housed a newspaper printing facility. Now students and hotel guests sleep in loft-like rooms and hang out in meticulously curated public spaces such as a TED Talk booth.
The city’s architecture is such a part of its identity that it has an entire institute devoted to it.
The ARCAM, the Amsterdam Center for Architecture, is housed in an aluminum pavilion by architect René van Zuuk, itself an example of the inventive modern creations blending in with the beloved relics of the city’s Golden Age. Each Friday, visitors can take a crash course on Amsterdam’s architecture and urbanism at ARCAM.
Yvonne Franquinet, director of ARCAM, describes how Amsterdam came about at the end of the 13th century when a dam was constructed where the River Amstel flowed into the Zuider Zee. As trade and fishing thrived, the city continued to expand. More canals and bridges were built.
“We have more bridges than Venice,” she says.
Today, that expansion is continuing, with the city even building new districts on a series of artificial islands. De Ceuvel is an example of the kind of sustainable urban development popping up in the area. Located next to a canal, the former industrial plot is now home to offices and workshops, some located in retrofitted houseboats.
Among the businesses is Café de Ceuvel. In keeping with the mission of the complex, the restaurant makes its own soda so as not to waste plastic and glass bottles. The menu changes each day based on the availability of products.
Back at the Hôtel Droog café one early evening, young Dutch residents and a few visitors are sitting on furniture that are works of art, some sipping wine, some drinking coffee.
The building also has exhibition spaces, a library and a spa.
“The whole point is that we would flip the idea of the hotel on its head,” says Lara Mikocki, Droog ’s publicist. “The cultural personality of the Dutch is very much represented in design and makes compelling, surprising stuff that comes out of the creative.”