Circular sheet material for Benelux's largest hotel

High-end design, sustainability and energy efficiency go hand in hand in new hotel in Amsterdam

The 91-meter-high design hotel nhow Amsterdam RAI opened in early January 2019. This impressive building is a design by Rem Koolhaas' architecture firm OMA, inspired by the advertising column at Amsterdam RAI. Color runs like a common thread throughout the interior. For the finish of cabinets and desks in the rooms, client NH Hotel Group, procurement and project coordinator Interior Consult and interior builder Hoogendoorn Maritieme betimmeringen en interieurbouw chose the circular decorative sheet material Unilin Evola. The closets have a plain color, while the desks were given a walnut and oak design.

The NH Hotel Group's brand new 25-story nhow Amsterdam RAI, located at the triangle between RAI, A10 and Europaboulevard, is a true eye-catcher. As inspiration, architect Reinier de Graaf used one of RAI Amsterdam's most iconic features: the Signal, the 60-meter-high advertising column on Europaplein. Through its three superimposed, twisted triangles, the building points in different directions (South, East, North, Southwest, Southeast and Northwest), symbolizing the diversity of the past, present and future of the city of Amsterdam. This hotel includes 650 hotel rooms, 9 meeting and event spaces, a lounge, a restaurant, a multimedia studio and a sky bar.

Color as a common thread in interior design

The interior designers of Next and GLG/MVSA used a broad color palette for the finishing of walls, floors, ceilings and decoration. For the closets and desks in all rooms, owner NH Hotel Group, purchasing and project coordinator Interior and interior builder Hoogendoorn went looking for decorative sheet material that could take a push and ended up with Unilin's Evola.

"We were involved in this project by the interior designer. The architect had prescribed RAL colors in advance for the cabinets and 'American walnut' and 'oak' for the desks. Within our Evola collection of decorative sheet material, available in melaminated boards, HPL and edgebanding, we had a 100 % match for the RAL color with the highest volume, while we were able to closely match the other RAL color. Furthermore, we also matched different walnut and oak designs," says Job Kramer, project consultant for hospitality in the Netherlands.

"I visit architects, designers, interior designers, property developers and clients from the hospitality sector to present our products and discuss projects. In this way, we were also selected to help build such large projects. In addition to decorative sheet material, we also supplied raw sheets, which were then coated with fabric by the interior builder for the realization of interior elements.
Of course, this was only possible with the support of a partner like Blok Plaatmateriaal. After all, we supplied them with the sheets in larger volumes and they took care of the timely delivery to Hoogendoorn's workshop. Needless to say, it ran like clockwork."

Circular sheet material

Unilin was also selected because of the circular aspect. The use of circular material fits perfectly within the vision of client and architect to combine high-quality design with the highest level of energy efficiency and sustainability (BREEAM Excellent certified).

"Indeed, 85% of our particleboards are made up of recycled material. All the wood comes from locations within a 400 km radius of the production sites, from smart collaborations with, for example, container parks, demolition companies, the packaging industry and our own customers, and is brought in by ship whenever possible," Kramer concludes. "Non-recyclable wood is burned in our own power plants A&S and A&U, providing our own production with heat and energy."