Development in Maastricht, The Netherlands, Europe

Hotel and Sport School Zenden, Maastricht, the Netherlands 2003-09 Wiel Arets Architects The Hotel and Sport School Zenden is located within three monumental town houses near the river Maas in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Photos : Joao Morgado The hotel's history begins in the late sixties, and originally contained only a pool for swimming lessons. Over the years other functions such as hotel rooms and a Judo school were implemented into the program. Upon the facilities reaching spatial limits, a renovation and reorganisation of the program was needed. During the renovation, the scattered program was re-crystallized into an iconographical and integrated whole. Newly created openings in the hotel's walls allow for views between all areas of the new program, as well to as the exterior. The renovation led to an abstraction of the structure in both plan and section, not least because all ceilings heights were kept to a maximum. The resulting interior sculpture is completely clad in white, while the exterior inversions are painted anthracite. New program elements were placed if and where necessary. Upon entering the hotel, a relaxing lounge welcomes guests- and invites them to have a drink, admire the hotel's pool or simply enjoy the red Japanese maple on the patio- that highly contrasts the hotel's white interior. From the lounge, guests can pace past the glass-clad wall in the entrance area and descend to the basement, where one finds the sapphire blue waters of the pool, which retains its original medieval vault. Oppositely, ascending the stairs, nine hotel rooms await their guests, each room unique. Inside the four new guest rooms, services such as showers, toilets and cupboards have been condensed to blocks; enabling more living space. Corian inlays and night-stands have been integrated into the walls, washing tables placed on floating shelves, TV's hidden behind reflecting glass and bathroom doors also serve as mirrors. Within this playground of guest rooms' dark-maroon beds, armchairs and ottomans tempt hotel visitors to call the their room a temporary home. Allowing comfortable contemplation of the sights and scenery of the culturally rich city of Maastricht. Hotel Zenden, Maastricht images / information from Wiel Arets Architects