Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Let's Talk Culture

Around The World: Amsterdam’s Hotel Lloyd is a Cultural Embassy for Travelers

AMSTERDAM-- One of this lovely old city's most compelling charms is that it is constantly reinventing itself.

While conscientiously conserving its ancient canals, fabled gabled houses and cobblestone streets, Amsterdam is trend-setting in its ultramodern architecture and cutting edge concepts for urban community planning.

That, of course, makes Amsterdam a source of ongoing eye-opening entertainment for travelers who come again and again to the city to experience its new wonders.

Among the cities' visit-worthy recent reinventions is the trendy residential district called Zeeburg,

The area's first reinvention actually began in the 17th century, when engineers created man-made islands to be used for the harboring of the Dutch merchant sailing fleet. The low-lying islands were called the Oostelijk Havengebied.

During the ensuing three centuries, and until as recently as the 1970s, the islands continued to serve as shipping depots. But eventually, as new shipping technologies evolved and became commonplace, the islands' old warehouses and other buildings were abandoned and became derelict. For years, the area was not only an embarrassing eye sore, it was also a dangerous mess. Reinvention required!

Reinvention delivered: Top Dutch and European architects and urban planners were called upon to design and construct both affordable public housing and luxury private homes and condos to rehabilitate the area and to provide much-needed dwellings for Amsterdam's growing population. The develop plan resulted in a fabulous collection of apartment buildings and private homes, and all of the urban infrastructure necessary to support the newly revived neighborhood.

Throughout Zeeburg, there are intriguing bridges and playful public monuments that provide a grand new dimension to Amsterdam’s wonderful cityscape.

The area is off the beaten tourist path, but it is a marvelous place for travelers to a new and different aspect of Amsterdam. Just stroll around and see an example of what really good urban planning and modernization can do a city.

Far be it from the practical Dutch, however, to destroy their historical monuments of any sort, and especially those that might be rehabilitated and made useful. The reinvention of Oostelijk Havengebied entailed reclaiming old warehouses and transforming them into artists‘ quarters and work spaces, residential condos, and entertainment complexes with public meeting spaces, theaters and exhibition halls.

One of the reinvented area's most interesting focal points is the extraordinary Lloyd Hotel, a classic building that has had its various incarnations as a place of refuge since it was built in 1917.

The Lloyd was originally designed to serve as a dormitory-style hotel for masses of impoverished Eastern Europeans who were transiting through Amsterdam as they left their homelands and sailed off in search of new opportunities South America. During the 1930's, it became a refuge for Jews who were fleeing Nazi Germany and the invasion of their homelands -- until the Germans occupied Amsterdam and transported the Jews to death camps, and put the Lloyd Hotel to use as a prison for Dutch resistors. It then became, in turn, a prison for German collaborators. It them became a prison for delinquent boys. And, then, it was abandoned.

In the 1980s, a group of artists took over the building, reclaiming Lloyd Hotel for their dwellings and studios. They introduced a new life style and energy into the place, but the building was still derelict and unsightly.

When Zeeburg emerged as Amsterdam’s trendiest residential area, the city called upon urban planners and citizens to submit new use proposals for the ramshackle Lloyd Hotel. Among those who stepped up with a plan was cultural animator Suzanne Oxenaar and her three partners, who put in a bid to reinvent Lloyd Hotel as a unique tourist hostelry, one that would utilize a new and different hospitality philosophy and redesign the building to combine salvageable classic elements with high-concept contemporary Dutch interior design.

New hospitality philosophy? High-concept design? After eight years of renovation and reinventing, the concepts came to fruition, and visitors were able to see what Oxenaar and her partners had in mind.

Firstly, the Lloyd Hotel caters to ‘cultural guests,’ meaning people who work in or are fascinated by the arts, and those who travel to art-rich Amsterdam to enjoy fine and applied art exhibitions and all sorts of performances. The Lloyd Hotel features an in-house’cultural embassy,‘ which is actually a museum-like family room where guests may meet each other and/or present themselves and their artistry. That means they have ongoing opportunities to stage their own performances, poetry readings, piano recitals and/or fine art or photo exhibitions. They may also access and contribute to the hotel's 8,000 volume arts-oriented library.

To add extra appeal for their culturally-oriented guests, Oxenaar and partners networked with Amsterdam's more than forty museums, theaters, film studios, concert halls and scores of individual artists to provide visitors with unprecedented access to their like-minded Dutch counterparts. You need not be a working artist to benefit from the Lloyd Hotel’s contacts, pairings are made for all guests. Lloyd Hotel can provide all guests with hard-to-get tickets to the city's current cultural offerings.

The Lloyd's ‘cultural embassy’ concept extends to guest rooms, too. There are 120 rooms in total, and these are rated one to five stars and they are priced accordingly. The rooms range from really inexpensive small berths with shared lavatories to luxurious suites with lavish spa-like bathrooms. Whether designated as one or five stars, each of the rooms is fabulously designed, uniquely appointed with original leaded glass windows, built-in cabinets, wooden beams, pine-paneling, exquisite designer lighting and built-in beds with spotless white linens covering fluffy down pillows and comforters. In one of the luxury suites, there's a bed that's actually big enough to sleep eight people. And, the suites have unique bathroom designed with space-saving foldaway walls or those that are fashioned from chartreuse fiberglass.

The idea of having one to five star rooms under one roof is highly unusual. But the plan fits perfectly with the hotel's 'cultural embassy' mission. The less expensive rooms cater to the needs of visiting artists who can't afford five star accommodations, and the five star rooms really deliver quality to art lovers and collectors who can afford them, but want to mingle with the artists whose work and lifestyle they admire.

One of the Lloyd Hotel’s best guest amenities is that everyone gets to meet each other each other in the 'cultural embassy.' It’s a unique, delightful and eye opening travel experience.
Copyright 2012 Jennifer Merin

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