Wagons Lits office building, Ibis hotel, and bridge

Benthem Crouwel Architekten
Tram 1-2-4-5-9-13-16-17-24-25; bus 18-21-33-34-35-43-59 en meer.
Maarten Kloos (red.), Amsterdam Architecture 1991-93, Amsterdam, 1994, p.128-29.
Kantoren, Leisure

Group of buildings on Stationseiland

This complex has been built on a narrow strip adjoining the railway embankment of Central Station, with a new connection to the city in the form of a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. The hotel rooms are located on both sides of a central corridor, with the bathroom facing the façade, as in the original French Wagons-Lits concept.

The undulating façade and the reflective glass bricks are intended to evoke associations with the surrounding water. The Wagons-Lits tower corbels out over the road and has a floor plan with semicircular ends, providing a panoramic view. The vertical volume containing the lifts and stairwells and lending the building stability has been placed on the exterior in order to ensure each storey has as much free floor-space as possible. The extreme openness to the sun is reduced by slatted aluminium sun-blinds. (ARCAM/BM)