Multi-media hotel in former transformer house
The transformer house, containing the hotel restaurant STROOM, is part of the former Schiecentrale in Rotterdam. After the former electricity generating plant has been adapted to accommodate audio-visual firms, two large television studios were added and the 25kV building was completed. Then it was decided that the complex needed a restaurant and a hotel. Both are now housed in the former transformer house of the power plant.
Project info
Status
Completed in 2004
Opdrachtgevers
Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Rotterdam
Programma
Hotel with19 rooms, brasserie, offices
Grootte
2.500 m2 GFA
New glass extension
To house the restaurant and hotel, Mei architects and planners enlarged the transformer house with a glazed extension at one end. The existing tall spaces are earmarked for a brasserie and a nineteen-room hotel. The stairs, the offices and the hotel suite are located in the glazed extension. These clearly visible elements give the transparent side façade of Hotel restaurant STROOM a lively appearance.
Roof lights
The existing façade on Lloydstraat consists of a large, closed brick plane broken only by a small glazed addition. The industrial character of this façade was preserved by not punching any large windows through it for hotel rooms. Instead, the hotel rooms receive daylight from above through rooflights, and the starry sky is visible at night.
Thanks to their 4-metre height, the hotel rooms consist of a lower level, containing an extensive bathroom that includes a sauna, and an upper level containing a comfortable bed with high-tech audio-visual equipment within easy reach. Beamers and wide, adjustable projection screens allow hotel guests to read the newspaper the full width of the room and thus determine their own ‘view’ from their room.
Grand café
The hospitality section consists of a grand café, a lounge, a multimedia hall and a restaurant with open kitchen. An outdoor terrace and a roof terrace complete the picture. These amenities add to the Schiecentrale an ideal venue where creative entrepreneurs can meet and exchange ideas and where visitors to the Schiecentrale can spend the night.
