International architecture practice OMA, together with NH Hotel Group and developer COD, have won the bid to build the largest hotel in the Netherlands, the 650-room, 91-metre tall nhow Amsterdam RAI.
Located on the southern edge of the Amsterdam RAI convention and exhibition centre, the design sees three shifting triangular volumes stacked on top of each other to create a “unique presence” on the city’s skyline.
“Since the rise of the Zuidas, Amsterdam RAI needed a new urban presence,” said OMA partner, Reinier de Graaf.
“The prominent advertising pillar ‘the Signaal’ provided inspiration for the nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel: inashmuch part of the new context, as well as an extension of Amsterdam RAI itself.”
OMA's architecture sits well with the existing structures of the RAI, including a three-sided advertising pillar.
The proposed building preserves the dense flows of pedestrians and traffic that traverse the site, with the jagged volumes facilitating the integration of public programs, such as a restaurant, bar, sculpture garden and a live television studio that inspired the building’s name: On Air.
According to the City of Amsterdam, these additional facilities allowed OMA’s design to stand out, while its “iconic design…was decisive".
Construction is planned for mid-2016, with the hotel to be located in the triangle of the Europa Boulevard, the highway A10, and the Amsterdam RAI Convention Centre.
Images: Dezeen
