[ Concrete ] CitizenM

CitizenM is a hotel made of prefabricated room modules at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, designed by Dutch architectural firm Concrete.

Each of the 230 rooms was built ad furnished in a factory and then stacked like shipping containers to form the hotel.

The following is from CitizenM:

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Project: CitizenM Hotel
Client: CitizenM

GENERAL INFORMATION:

citizenM is a new Dutch hotel group that opens their first hotel at Schiphol Airport in the second quarter of 2008. The concept of the hotel is to cut out all hidden costs and remove all unnecessary items, in order to provide it guests a luxury feel for a budget price. The hotel exists of 230 rooms of 14 sq. m, all prefabricated produced in citizenM’s own factory and easy to transport.

The rooms are stacked on a ground floor with a dynamic lobby / living-room space, creating rooms and F&B functions. Since citizenM believes a great bed and a simple and clean bathroom is all we need during a city or business trip, the design is focused on these items.

CitizenM wants to expand the concept by building over 20 hotels the coming years, all with the room-module as building block. The second hotel will be build in Amsterdam near the south-axis, the third one in Glasgow. Other big European cities are investigated right now.

Concrete created the concept of citizenM as a holistic plan that would set the boundaries for every creative process and output in all disciplines involved.

THE ROOM:

The bed
The bed stands in front of a floor to ceiling, wall to wall window and is super-king size, 2,2 x 2,0 m. It’s white bed-linen and pillows offer a lounge area to watch TV on the flat LCD screen, together with the stuffed animal named Marvin (designed by Gewoon) that’s placed in every room.

Night tables on both sides of the bed contain plisse-shaded lamps. Underneath the bed is a huge drawer to store an opened suitcase or other personal belongings. Sockets in the bed-front make it possible to connect your laptop or telephone. All images above: Ewout Huibers. All images below: Richard Powers

The bathroom
To create maximal space, the items from the bathroom are separately placed in the room. Two big glass cylinders contain the shower and the toilet, a small Corian cylinder contains the washbasin and extra space for storage. The shower exists of one fixed half cylinder and two quarter cylinder sliding doors, all transparent glass.

The taps on the stainless steel column, which also gives place to the citizenM amenities, operate the rain and extra hand shower. The toilet exists of a fixed hpl half cylinder and two quarter cylinder sliding doors, made of dusted glass. Both the ceiling of the toilet as the ceiling of the shower are translucent, showing the colours of the RGB led-strings on top.

Efficient use of space leads two a combination of mirror and storage space. A revolving stainless steel frame contains a full-length mirror on one side and a make-up mirror with theatre lights, storage compartments for beauty supplies and a European, English and American socket on the other side.

Materials
Walls are covered with Vescom Hauki wallpaper. The main finish of the floor is ABET zebrano print, floors of toilet and shower are finished with white corian.

Lighting
To create a theatrical atmosphere the room contains a total of fourteen light-sources. TL lighting highlights the blinds and black-out curtain in the window. Three Modular Gira spots create the adjust amount of light above the bed and living area. Three Philips Fugato spots, built-in the lowered ceiling lighten the sanity area. Three mirror top bulbs in the mirror are suited for make-up. And finally, two RGB LED-strings above the translucent ceilings offer the opportunity to change colors of the room.

An electronic moodpad with touch-screen allows visitors to control the entire room, setting the mood of the room to their choice. Visitors can choose from a total of 6 pre-programmed moods (such as “romance”, “business” en “surprise me”) and 6 pre-programmed functional light-settins (such as “work”, “shower” en “read”). Video-content and audio adjust to the chosen mood to create the perfect atmosphere. The moodpad also controls the blinds, black-out curtain, climate and the television. The CitizenM-system remembers all personal settings and reproduces for the next visit.

THE LOBBY
The entrance
A red glass box with electronic sliding doors allows entrance to the hotel. The hotel does not have a service desk but a table with six self-check-in terminals. One of citizenM’s hosts is present to guide you through the incheck-procedure.

The livingrooms
The public area of the ground floor is divided in several areas that we like to call living rooms. Our purpose is to create a home-environment, by designing working areas, dining areas and sitting areas. It creates a second home away from home for the visitors. The rooms are designed in cooperation with Vitra, using their furniture collection only. This allows CitizenM and Vitra to switch furniture from time to time, creating a real-life showroom.

The canteen
The Food & Beverage area is mainly self-service. An 11-meters long cabinet contains 7 refrigerated glass cases with drinks, sandwiches, salads, sushi and other kind of snacks and meals. Visitors take the food and drinks of their choice and order coffee and pay at the two cash desks in the red service bar. Products can be consumed at one of the large red bar-tables or in one of the living rooms.

The front of the red service bar contains a glass case with magazines, newspaper and merchandise. At night parts of the cabinet are closed and extra barstools and different lighting create an intimate atmosphere and change the room to a bar-area.

THE BUILDING

The façade
The building is a black metal box, dominated by the pushed out big glass windows of the rooms. The various depths of the aluminum frames and the angled glass give an individual twist to the rigid façade. The big glass windows on the ground floor are placed inwards the building, creating a natural transfer between inside and outside and showing the living rooms and lobby space to the street. As an extension of this dynamic interior, a red coloured glass box marks the entrance. CitizenM wants to contribute also to it’s cultural environment. Two huge art works, printed on pvc mesh fabric are placed on the façade. The works are made by a local talented artist, but within a few years they will travel from one hotel facade to the other.

The covered walkway
A roof construction of folded steel plates creates a covered walkway from the terminal exit to the hotel entrance. PowerLED floorlamps light out the inner ceiling of the silver colored steel and create a guiding path to the hotel entrance.

The philosophy
“To all travellers long and short haul.
To the weary, the wise and the bleary eyed.
To the suits, weekenders, fashion baggers and affair-havers.
To the explorers, adventurers and dreamers.
To all locals of the world from Amsterdam, Boston and Cairo to Zagreb.
To all who travel the world with wide eyes and big hearts.
To all who are independent yet united in a desire for positive travelling.
To those who are smarter than a dolphin with a university degree and realise you can have luxury for not too much cash.
To those who need a good bed, a cold drink and big fluffy towels.
To all who are mobile citizens of the world. Citizen M welcomes you all.”

They need a hotel in a good location. What they don’t want is unnecessary or hidden costs. They don’t need marble fountains or out-dated services.

citizenM has a unique personality and likes to be approachable, down-to-earth, friendly and worldly wise. While we take our aim of providing a stylish and affordable hotel very seriously, citizenM also acts with a sense of humour. Above all, citizenM wants to offer a new type of hotel experience for a new type of traveller: people who value personal choice, modern design, friendly technology and the proximity to a city – for an accessible price.

our secret
So how are we able to provide such high quality for such low prices? The answer lies in our construction. Called ‘Industrial Flexible Demountable’, our rooms are pre-made in our own special factory off-site. This factory ensures that citizenM’s rooms are of a comparable quality to that of a luxury yacht or private jet. Only the best materials are used and our modular system combines functionality with comfort and design. We like to think that citizenM is an evolution in the hotel industry. But since citizenM likes to be a little bit modest, we won’t shout about it. At least not too much.

citizenM says come on in, and make yourself comfortable.

Concept, architecture and interior: Concrete

Project Location:
Address: Jan Plezierweg 2, 1118 BB, Schiphol Airport
City: Schiphol, Haarlemmermeer

Project Information:
Project team:
Rob Wagemans
Erikjan Vermeulen
Jeroen Vester
Erik van Dillen
Matthijs Hombergen
Sofie Ruytenberg

Graphic design and visuals: KesselsKramer

Advisors
Technical drawings: ADF / Aveco de Bondt
Structural engineer: Pieters bouwtechniek
M+E engineer: Linssen / Ilex
Room enginering: Well Design
Acoustics and fire protection: TNO delft
Costs and tender documents: Bureau Coppens
General management execution: BFB advies
Production Management execution: Van Delft
ambient experience: Philips
furniture lobby area: Vitra

Contractors and suppliers
Room-module:  Modcon modular constructions
Steelwork and façade: Interdam projects
Foundation: Heijmerink Bouw
Electrical: Roos en Doorn
Mechanical: van Galen / Beck en vd Kroef
Lighting and moodpath: Philips
Furniture room: Interna, Italy
Furniture lobby area: Vitra
Interior building finishings: Snelbouw
Kitchen utilities: ATK grootkeuken techniek
Visuals façade: Visual Works
Covered Walkway: Interdam projects with van Rijn Staalbouw

Total area: 6000 m2 gross area
Room: 14 m2 net area
Number of rooms: 230

Opening: 2nd quarter of 2008
Duration of construction: 12 months

Photography: Ewout Huibers and Richard Powers

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