Westergasfabriek Hotel

Amsterdam | 2015-2016

Westergasfabriek, a 19th-century factory on the outskirts of central Amsterdam, halted operations in 1981 and the site was rezoned as recreation space. In 1999 Gustafson Porter + Bowman developed a masterplan that relates specifically to existing site elements and contexts. The design was a response to a number of uses: civic, social, commercial, culture, recreational and ecological.

Since reopening in 2004, the park has become one of Amsterdam’s key venues. It includes an events field, which hosts concerts, festivals and celebrations, complemented by markets, creative and commercial activities – permanent and temporary – which are housed in converted technical buildings. The activity hub contains galleries, crèches, a children’s activities centre, theatre, restaurants and cafés.

In 2016 Gustafson Porter + Bowman began work on a new project at Westergasbriek, the landscape design around a hotel built in a 19th-century heritage building. Our project is split into two areas: to improve the arrival at the hotel by creating a sense of arriving in a park or public space, rather than one dominated by traffic and car parking; and to mediate the space between the new and historic sections of the park which sit immediately outside the hotel’s perimeter. Overall, our work facilitates the needs of the hotel’s operations whilst allowing the hotel guests and the public to enjoy a series of new open spaces.