• The Fletcher Amsterdam design hotel with its illuminated alabaster reception desk in the hotel lounge.
  • An indirectly-lit alabaster coffee bar gives this hotel design an international feel.
  • Interior designer Robert Kolenik's hotel room design is inspired by the design hotel's round windows.
  • The hotel room design feels like a luxury suite and offers an exclusive bird's-eye view over Amsterdam.
  • Life Fitness equipment in the luxury design hotel gives an all-round feeling of wellness.
  • Luxurious boardroom design with an interior whose use of colour and walnut details are inspired by the natural world.
  • The boardroom design is based on the space’s dual function as both a private dining area and a meeting room.
  • This multi-functional hospitality design comprises a luxurious boardroom design that can also be used as a private dining area.
  • Wine climate cabinets and luxury walnut folding doors offer a view through into the sky bar of Amsterdam's Fletcher design hotel.
  • A chandelier acts as an eye-catcher in the sky bar of Amsterdam's Fletcher design hotel.
  • Interior designer Robert Kolenik integrated the Whaletone design piano into the sky bar of Amsterdam's Fletcher design hotel.
  • ky bar hospitality design with luxurious chandeliers and round sofas to create an intimate mood.
  • The sky bar in Amsterdam's Fletcher hotel, with Rolf Benz sofas, unusual wall finishes and natural grey tones that are carried through into the restaurant design.
  • At sunset, the sky bar’s hospitality design provides the ultimate backdrop for a drink or dinner.
  • Dream chandelier seen from the luxurious sky restaurant, with a view of the bar below.
  • A lava stone wall finish is part of the unusual hospitality design of this Amsterdam design hotel.
  • Interior designer Robert Kolenik created the entire hotel interior design for the Fletcher hotel in Amsterdam in collaboration with Benthem Crouwel Architects.
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Hotel Design Amsterdam

Hotel Design Amsterdam

Amsterdam’s Fletcher Hotel is round, which created some intriguing challenges for the hotel interior design. However it was the restaurant design in this eye-catching building that proved to be Robert Kolenik’s breakthrough moment.

Playful solutions

The interior designer is known for his use of unique, honest, natural materials that also emanate luxury and minimalism. For Fletcher Hotels, this is the first time that an entirely new building has been constructed in Amsterdam. The hotel’s roundness meant that Kolenik was confronted with limited space which nevertheless needed to be fully filled. ‘At times, we struggled with the space, but we did manage to come up with playful solutions for the hotel design.’ Kolenik carried the architect’s vision through into the interior. ‘The building attracts a lot of attention. Everyone has an opinion about the blue building right beside the A2. I’ve also emphasised this element of surprise inside the hotel by working mainly with round shapes.’ However the blue shades used on the outside walls have not been carried through into the interior. ‘This is because I wanted the heart of the hotel to be warm, homely and timeless,’ Kolenik explains.

Restaurant design

The hotel design was based on Kolenik’s own ‘Eco Chic’ concept. ‘I believe that design should be sustainable. In addition to the homeliness, luxury and warmth that I have already mentioned, Eco Chic also stands for sustainability.’ For example, the interior designer uses ‘Ecoboard’. This board is made by pressing together agricultural residues with natural resin. Such materials would normally end up on the compost heap emitting large quantities of CO2. These include wheat fibre, straw and tomato plants whose crop has already been harvested. Ecoboard, which was used to make the sofas for the new Fletcher hotel, is a highly sustainable material which is readily biodegradable. This means that once its useful life is over, it can be returned to nature.

1500-kilo chandelier

The round shapes of the bar and restaurant are a good reflection of the interior designer’s vision. For the lounge, Kolenik designed an eye-catching chandelier, ‘The Dream’ which may well be one of the largest in the world. The chandelier is four metres high and a staggering nine metres wide, and hangs above the bar in the Pi Sky Restaurant in the curve of the building. The chandelier’s bronze-grey glass balls were blown in the Czech Republic, and the piece was subsequently assembled in the Netherlands. Kolenik explains: ‘This took quite some doing, as “The Dream” weighs around 1500 kilos.’

TV tree in the bedrooms

The flat screen TV in the hotel rooms is suspended from a tree. When planning the hotel room design, working out where to put the TV proved a challenge. This was because nothing could be mounted on the outside wall. Kolenik then came up with the original idea of using a tree trunk. ‘I went into the woods with a forester. I was looking for a tree whose trunk could be anchored to the floor and whose branches would touch the ceiling. I found the ideal tree in the Amsterdamse Bos, with a perfect Y-shaped branch. This branch served as a model and 120 copies were produced. Each had a metal core to ensure sufficient stability and to house the COAX and electricity cables.’

Piano in the shape of a whale

Apart from the chandelier that hangs in the Sky Restaurant and Pi lounge, the large grand piano also serves as a striking eye-catcher. The largest piano in the world is shaped like a whale. The piano is fashioned entirely from sustainable materials (there are no ivory keys). Furthermore, part of the profit made on the sale of each instrument is donated to whale protection.

Sustainable cushions and sofas

Another sustainable interior design choice is the Proud sofa. The feathers used are taken from organic chickens: ‘Happy chickens’. Sofa seat cushions are filled with soya foam rather than foam made from environmentally harmful petroleum products. The lift wall is also sustainable. For one side of the lift, Kolenik developed a new material. ‘This is recycled aluminium with gas injected into it to create a bubbly texture.’ This material is poured into epoxy resin, which creates a silver effect that is sparkling, natural and refreshing.

 

 

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