nhow Amsterdam RAI | Furnishing Europe's largest hotel goes smoothly

650 rooms of nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel

Without any delays, the interior design of the 650 rooms and general areas of the nhow Amsterdam RAI hotel is nearing completion. An operation carried out with almost military precision under the direction of INTERIOR-CONSULT, the Haarlem-based design studio responsible for the total procurement and coordination of the interior design of the largest OMA-designed hotel in Europe.

One of the 650 richly decorated hotel rooms.

"It's great to be part of this striking project on Amsterdam's ring road," says owner/director Edzo Bosma. "It's a gigantic project, which in retrospect, with the opening in sight, you can say went smoothly. Once the train is running. It is really very clever what has been realized here, truly unique."

INTERIOR-CONSULT specializes in Design & Build of interiors of hotels, resorts and bungalow parks, among others. Bosma: "This NH hotel involved design support, soliciting products and services, work preparation, contracting suppliers, budget monitoring, planning and coordinating temporary storage, moving in and installation of all goods. For this project, we had to place orders with about 250 suppliers and it involves at least about 1,000 different products. This includes, for example, the box springs, armchairs, closets, safes, minibars, lighting, curtains, signage, kitchens,
buffets, cold rooms, reception furniture and video wall to planting and styling. We must ensure that the budget is not exceeded in the process and monitor the entire administration from invoicing to payment. In this way, we unburden our clients."

Reception on the second floor.

Support role

Initial discussions with the clients developer COD and NH Hotels were held in late 2017. "From April 2018, we really started implementing this project," says José Bontenbal, projects & procurement coordinator. "Of importance is good preparation and a very disciplined approach. We have to have all the information in about the production time of goods, the logistics, the installation time and the completion time. The interior uses standard products, but also specially designed elements. Here we play a supporting role. For example, we translate the design into the actual situation and check whether a design can be implemented. This has led, among other things, to adjustments in the electrical facilities in the rooms. We test whether upholstery fabrics of furniture are safe and strong enough for use in a hotel and can correct if necessary. After all, we know the pitfalls in design."

A special interior aspect is the iconic murals in the heart of the hotel, which are also visible from outside thanks to the glass facades. Bosma: "These are very dominant, they are a mix of street art and art. It was not clear how they could be executed on the rough concrete walls. We therefore brought in a painter from Zeeland, who was able to do it. Barre Verkerke is a true specialist in this field. His work turned out so well that he was allowed to paint another wall in the restaurant on the 17th floor, to his own design."

Turnaround at the hotel.

Surprising end result

Proper communication with hotelier, developer and contractor is very important in such a project, Bosma says. "For example, we chaired the interior and FF&E (Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment) meetings. We set priorities and monitor the whole project, so we can also foresee where any problems might arise and how to solve them. To keep up the progress, we also occasionally co-design ourselves." In Sassenheim, INTERIOR-CONSULT has a warehouse where the goods were stored on an interim basis. The construction site at the RAI lacked the space for that. Just-in-time deliveries were made from Sassenheim to Amsterdam, with 2 INTERIOR-CONSULT project managers present at the construction site to ensure that all goods could be installed at the site on time. Says Bontenbal, "While they were still pouring concrete on the top floor, we were already setting up the rooms downstairs. That way we could deliver one floor per week, including commissioning and checking the installations. The cooperation with general contractor Pleijsier Bouw went very well. When they were ready, we moved in. As a result, together we were really able to do something special here. The final result is very surprising."