The Fletcher Hotel Amsterdam is the dominant landmark of the city of Amsterdam. It is a mischievous building with a cheerful tone. The new Fletcher Hotel Amsterdam was designed by BenthemCrouwel. “Whether you approach it from the north, south, east or west, the tower is a clear focal point. The challenge was to utilise the compact floor plan with a diameter of around 24 metres. The result is a slender silhouette building,” explain engineers Jan Bethem and Peter Kropp.

The first blueprints of Amsterdam’s new ‘landmark’ date back to 2006/2007, when BenthemCrouwel won a prize competition organised by the Municipality of Amsterdam with this design. The goal was to design a building that would mark the 'beginning’ and ‘end’ of the city as a landmark in this location.

4,050 m2 glass skin In designing the hotel, BenthemCrouwel felt it was important that it not resemble an office building. The building designers also wanted it to have the look & feel of a work of art. The large round circles on the glass façade make it impossible to see from the outside how many floors are in the tower. To give the building a mystical feel, the architects created a spectacular 4,050 glass skin that ‘suspends’ as it were around the tower. This double façade facilitates the thermal management of the building. An insulating layer has been created between the glass skin and façade of the tower, making it less cold in the building in the winter and less hot in the summer. “The double façade also makes it a more attractive building, giving the tower a mysterious quality,” add engineers Jan Benthem and Peter Kropp.

Green Key Fletcher Hotels feels very strongly about Corporate Social Responsibility. We express this through Green Key certification. Green Key is a well-known international eco-label for sustainable buildings in the hotel and recreation sector. This label makes clear that we make every effort to minimise the impact of our business operations on nature and the environment. This also means going a step further than the compliance required by normal legislation and regulations. The eco-label has three levels: bronze, silver and gold. The more environmental measures implemented by the hotel, the higher the eco-friendly level. We are proud to announce that Fletcher Hotel Amsterdam qualifies for the gold Green Key label.

Energy and water savings Examples of eco-friendly features of the hotel include water-saving showers and low-energy lighting, the use of soap dispensers, waste separation, an energy-saving room key system and lighting timers in hallways. We also use a heat recovery installation in the air treatment unit and the ceilings in the meeting rooms are cooled with cold water. Our purchasing practices also take into account society and the environment. This includes serving Fair Trade coffee, using chlorine-free copier paper and working together with our supplier, Hocras, to ensure efficient goods delivery and reduced road transport. Enjoyment with a good conscience

What does all this mean in practice for you as a guest? It goes without saying that, during your stay, you will not be inconvenienced in any way by our sustainability activities. In our hotel, we have found an excellent balance between sustainable business practices and comfort. Knowing in the back of your mind that you can contribute to a better society and environment during your stay will hopefully make your stay even more enjoyable.

Interior

All-round

The interior of Hotel Amsterdam features natural, unique and honest materials that create an atmosphere that is both luxurious and minimalistic. The round shape of the hotel extends throughout its entire interior. This includes round seats around the piano, cylindrical glass showers and large round windows in the rooms with a diameter of 2.5 metres. World’s largest chandelier

One of the largest chandeliers in the world – ‘the dream’ – hangs from the top of the hotel. An amazing four metres high and nine metres wide, it is suspended above the bar in the Pi Sky Restaurant in the dome of the restaurant.

Whaletone

The Pi Sky Lounge no doubt has a genuine showpiece, the Whaletone. This piano is a unique musical instrument over 4 metres in length that was designed by Polish designer Robert Majkut to mimic the shape of a majestic whale. The piano is made entirely of sustainable materials (no ivory keys) and part of the proceeds from every instrument sold goes to whale protection initiatives.

The hotel has a broad range of facilities to ensure a comfortable and care-free stay.

-120 hotel rooms -Pi Sky Lounge with sky bar, live cooking and unique Whaletone grand piano -Pi Sky Restaurant -Covered roof terrace with fireplace and TV screen -5 meeting rooms with modern conferencing equipment and fireplace, also suitable for private dining -Fitness room -Brizio Coffee Bar BY Fletcher Hotels on the ground floor -Above and below-ground parking facilities (first hour free) -Shuttle service to and from the city centre and Schiphol Airport, among other destinations

In development area of Amstel III, situated on Amsterdam’s southeast side, Meibergdreef lane is currently being re-developed into an urban axis. This re-development constituted the catalyst for the construction of a four-star hotel, just across a present food strip. The hotel is located as closely as possible to the flanking highway A2. On approach from the south, the volume recognisably marks the entrance to Amsterdam.

The 60 meter high hotel has a compact floor plan with a diameter of merely 24 meters, resulting in a characteristic slim silhouette alongside the highway. The objective to create an omnidirectional structure, with an expressive façade and a compact footprint, has resulted in a circular plan with a central core for elevators, stairs and service shafts. The limited space is used as efficiently as possible. The technical stem is girded by the main functions on every floor. Service areas and technical spaces are situated in the basement, in the pedestal or on the roof. The lobby and coffee shop are situated on ground floor.

120 rooms encircle the staircase and lifts in the heart of the hotel. On floor sixteen, five board rooms have been arrange in a manner that allows them to be linked together. The so-called ‘Skyrestaurant Pi’, on the top and eighteenth floor, just as well as ‘Skylounge Pi’ on the floor below, offer guests impressive 360° panoramic views over Amsterdam.

Parking spaces at ground level are integrated in the landscape under a vegetation-covered roof, well blending in with the surroundings. Additional underground parking for 60 cars is offered. The hotel will soon receive the highest hallmark for sustainability and corporate responsibility for organisations in the recreation sector, the Green Key Gold. Among others, building-related aspects as the application of a subterranean thermal storage system and top level façade insulation have led to this distinction.

Façade

The fully glazed façade with its bend screens and round windows yields a distinctive, autonomous and yet restrained transparent appearance of the building, in its surroundings. The architecture of the neighbouring food strip is reflected in the circular motif in the hotel’s façade pattern. Blue colourings and shaded frittings provide a prominent outer shell to the building. Concurrently, by using this colour palette, the façade interacts powerfully with the sky.

The outer shell of printed glass screens is mounted approximately 90cm off a solid lightweight inner façade with integrated fixed windows. The transparent shell has a noise reduction function. The cavity between the façades is used for accent lighting. The circular motif is applied on both shells of the building. The blue tinted patterns re-appear as frittings on the laminated glass, and create depth in the façade. On the façade of the pedestal, where the entrance and coffee shop are situated, curved clear glass is mounted. The building is illuminated at night by the hotel room’s windows and by light fixtures applied between the façade shells. Hence, the Fletcher Hotel is distinctly visible and identifiable in its surroundings, even after sunset.

Construction

The main structure of the hotel is a combination of in-situ concrete and a steel construction. The concrete core provides the stability. To this, the steel construction is hung, at the location of the partition walls of the hotel rooms and on all floor levels linked with the intermediate precast concrete floors. The roof of the top floor, a technical room, is made out of steel. The supporting structure of the car park consists of concrete retaining walls and steel columns; the roof of hollow core floor slabs.

Tourniket Revolving Door of Boon Edam in Fletcher Hotel, Amsterdam