Filling the void

Abstract

This years graduation project is set In the city of Amsterdam. A city that has seen an exponential rise in tourist numbers and housing prices. Resulting in a city wide gentrification that made the city undesirable and too expensive for citizens to live in. In an attempt to deal with this the city adopted the doughnut economic model of Kate Raworth in an attempt to create a more inclusive and sustainable city. And with in this context we where asked to design a hotel. Something i found quite ironical, as locals see tourists rather go than that their numbers grow. However that what the crux of the project was. Trying to find a solution where the problem lies, and come up with a new kind of hotel that does more that is short stay counter part now dominating the city. One that contributes to the city instead of taking advantage. For the location of my hotel I choose MR. Visserplein. A central located site, between the old city and the golden belt extension. However its piece of city that is very undefined and where people rather go than stay. The projects complexity lay in two questions. the first being, How can the hotel adapted itself to the mix urban context consisting of pre-20^th- century build buildings (such as, The Mozes and Aron church, the Portuguese synagogue, and the architecture academy, and the 21^st-century film academy)? And how can the hotel deal with the modernist project of the city of Amsterdam that left a subterranean structure under ground? The result is a city block that mends the urban context/tissue of this pieces of Amsterdam and gives a new function to the tunnel underground.