Generator Amsterdam

Generator Amsterdam marks both the rebirth of a historical building and the evolution of a disruptive hospitality brand.

In Amsterdam’s Oosterpark neighbourhood and forming a new gateway to the park itself, DesignAgency has collaborated with local architects IDEA to restore the University of Amsterdam’s former health sciences building, a 1917 brick structure into the newest Generator. The property follows the brand's trendsetting concept, ideally situated in a humming district, with alluring-design, social-inducing spaces and affordable prices.

Restoring the school's traditional brick façade, the design team accented the building with a slick, all-glass rooftop addition that accentuates the classical appearance of the building, without overshadowing it. Instead, the addition announces the building’s contemporary infusion. Housing the guest rooms, the addition has the airy freedom a treehouse — its wall-to-wall windows brushed by leafy branches and awe-inspiring views of the park and the surrounding street life. By night, it glows throughout the neighbourhood like a beacon, signalling the property’s newfound energy, vitality and wit.

Entering through the park entrance, flanked by original stained glass windows, guests rise to a soaring lobby with original terrazzo flooring and art installations that set the stage for social interaction. The school’s original, heritage-designated spaces have been preserved and overlaid with contemporary twists and an array of rooms for varied, socially engaging experiences. In the chill out lounge, the raked seating of a former auditorium is reminiscent of its scholastic past yet completely transformed with erlenmeyer flask-inspired lighting that glow over a lectern-esque bar. A blackened metal feature stair that winds its way up to a catwalk and mezzanine encourages movement and people-watching while also leading guests to the former library, where they can relax amongst book stacks have been transformed into niche-seating for intimate meetings, gatherings or screenings.

At the apex of the building’s two wings, the ground floor cafe is inspired by the perennial pleasures of the out-of-doors. A delightfully airy space that opens to the park, the cafe establishes its own outdoor setting, with an abstracted row house that provides a whimsical space-within-a-space while nodding to the locale’s proud architectural history. Its mismatched floors, rendered in vibrant purples, pinks and deep yellows playfully evoke aerial views of tulip fields. Throughout the interior, tiles and textiles nod to folk craft fairs with their overlapping traditional patterns and colours. Memorable moments are created by a mix of signature and iconic Dutch design elements such as Studio Job wallpaper and Moooi lighting, blended with vintage local and restored furnishings and commissioned, original artworks. A typographic mural by Dutch-born, Parisian fashion designer and artist Pieter Ceizer lines the glass-elevator's shaft, and a chandeliers in the boiler room bar by Amsterdam-based industrial designers Blom & Blom are just two examples of the surprising features that give the interiors their rich character and further blur the boundaries between affordable hostel and high-design hotel.