CitizenM Hotel Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Opening (2): The Room (Dutch Design 27)

The CitizenM Room has various neat design features:

Its 2 m long and 2 m wide Bed under the window with, on the west side of the hotel, nice views on one of the landing strips of Schiphol Airport:

Under the bed, like in yachts, there is a huge trunk size drawer where you can stash your luggage away. Next to the entrance there are 5 coat and dress hangers over a small locker that can hold a small laptop without loading facility for its batteries.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-4

How do they manage to care for those beds? Very simple: They developed a system whereby the whole mattress can be pulled up to the front of the bed vertically. The used sheets fall of and the clean sheets can be hung up on the two upper corners in stead of crawling around the bed which would be impossible. They applied for a patent for the system.

The view gets nicer when the sun sets:

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Schiphol-Airport Window with Setting Sun

The shower and the Throne have each their own cylindric glass separation. The throne’s glass is etched. Between the shower and the bed there is a room wide curtain to separate the bath”room” part from the Sleeping part of the room. In the Throne’s cylinder an extra air suction facility prevents odors.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-1

Here you see the two cylinders closed. Left is The Hotel Throne. Even I with my considerable belly can easily pass between the two cylinders. In the middle you see the sink. Under the sink is a small cupboard that holds the waste basket. No tiles behind the sink. The floor of the room is quite slippery when wet.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-3

In this photo of Citizen M taken from the bed, you can see the mood lighting and, on the left,the separation curtain (they took care of the Yotel guest reviews that were complaining about the visibility of the Yotel Throne) and the rain shower. There are two tables in front of the bed and there is one chair available: The Vitra re issued C1 chair designed by Verner Panton.

Between the sink and the throne there is a turnable frame with on the one side a man high mirror and on the other side some small shelfs to store stuff and a shaving mirror and some international shaving wall sockets.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-7-Shower-in-Mirror-Next-to-Toilet

This photo I took in the big mirror.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-8-The-Other-Mirror-With-Shaving-Outlets

This photo I took in the shaving mirror.

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-6-Sink-with-Soap

Detail of the sink with huge soap block

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-Room-5-Amenities

Two types of shampoo and a water bottle which is the only drink available in the room. Other drinks you have to fetch in the lobby cum canteen M…however I noticed they closed the lot during the night at around 2 AM while Rattan claimed during his introduction that it would be open all night!

Citizen-M-Hotel-Amsterdam-Airport-Schiphol-DOLL

I don’t know what to think of this feature: The Citizen M Doll. If you think it is a gift you are wrong: They charge a hefty Euro 20 for it!

Conclusions

Room rates vary according to demand and start with Euro 69 per night up to Euro 139 per night.

The bed sleeps fine.

All in all I am really impressed by the care for detail in this concept. Especially the lack of outside noise is amazing with all the planes flying around at Schiphol Airport.

Good value for money if you are looking for a bed to crash in.

The Dutch and 2008 EK Football (Soccer) (2): The Dutch "Warrior" Team Declasses Italy (3-0)

Edwin Van der Sar By Erwin Olaf

The Dutch Newspaper Algemeen Dagblad commissioned Dutch Photographer Erwin Olaf to make a series of photos of the Dutch Football (Ok Soccer for our American Friends) Team for its 2008 European Championships Special.

Olaf made a spectacular almost Spartan Warrior like series.

Above photo is of Edwin van der Sar, the Dutch goalkeeper who saved some shots from the Italians in a spectacular way. Remember he also kept a penalty in the Manchester-Chelsea Europa Cup Final whereby Manchester won the cup. So he is a hero already in the UK.

Bronckhorst

Here you see Giovanni van Bronckhorst who in one move saved a possible goal from the Italians, ran ahead after that and assisted in the second goal of the Dutch and later in the match scored the third goal of the Dutch.

We are partying in The Netherlands!

Bye Bye KLM Royal Dutch Airline?

Always when I want to process some of my pending posts I stumble on something that draws my attention: This time a photo of a beheaded KLM airplane:

Wow KLM Airplane

Which made me think:”How long will this National Pride of The Netherlands live as a separate brand after the take over by Air France?”

I found the duly photo shopped photo on Core77: Things that oughtn’t be Flying, which found it on Zedomax , but I can´t find the corresponding post at Zedomax.

Dutch Design #22 FG Stijl and The College Hotel

Amsterdam College Hotel Front
The Amsterdam College Hotel Front

Some of my prior posts in the Dutch Design category I forgot to number. I found the correct number:-)

Dutch designers Colin Finnegan and Gerard Glintmeijer of FG Stijl have had a important influence in the design of the Amsterdam College Hotel. I now have access to press material from their site and also, after setting up my new computer, I am able to resize their high resolution photos without getting the famous blue screen. Therefor I now can offer my dear readers some additional photos.

Amsterdam College Hotel Front Desk
Amsterdam College Hotel Front Desk
Amsterdam College Hotel Room
Amsterdam College Hotel Room
Amsterdam College Hotel Restaurant
Amsterdam College Hotel Restaurant

I do like this style. The College Hotel is partly staffed by students from a local hotel school. Therefor the service is sometimes not entirely up to the standards that FG Stijl has set for this hotel.

Update May 14, 2008:

Recently the owner of the Hotel (the Amsterdam school ROC) was forced by the Dutch Government to sell the school. Dutch Government deemed the risks of owning a hotel too high for a state funded school….The buyer is Michael van de Kuit’s Nedstede Groep BV. Contrary to many property tycoons, Michael van de Kuit wishes to stay as anonymous as possible. To that extent he even has retained a PR adviser to keep him off the journalists’ hooks.

2008 Koninginnedag – 2008 Queen's Day in Makkum and Franeker

Queen Betarix in Makkum dancing the Salsa.jpg
The Dutch Do Dance! Even their Queen!

Happy Queen’s Day!
On January 30, 2008 our Queen Beatrix reached the venerable age of 70. The Dutch Queen´s birthday is celebrated officially on April 30th, since Queen Beatrix ascended the Throne. It is a public holiday and everybody goes out partying. In Amsterdam you can walk over the heads of the visitors. Many cruise the Amsterdam canals in little boats totally clad in Orange. Other people use Queen´s Day as their annual garage sale day, because everybody is allowed to sell everything freely all over the cities. So did my family.

Under Queen Juliana´s (Beatrix´mom’s) reign there was an official defile at her palace which went on for hours and hours. Beatrix changed tis rather boring tradition satisfactorily and decided to pay two Dutch cities a visit in celebration each year. Today the Frisian cities Makkum, world famous because of their polychrome “Delf” blue ware, and Franeker had their turn.

She does that with the whole Royal Family. This often leads to humorous situations as the young Dutch princes are always in for a little playful game. Today you could see some princes trying to collect rings from poles while riding on a small tricycle.

The Queen herself made a few dancing steps with a Frisian Salsa dancer in Makkum. I was glad I found this nice photo to prove my right in my previous post.

The Salsa dancer was clad in a dancing dress made of the pattern and colors of the Frisian Flag over an orange dress. The Frisians have their own flag and own language and are very proud of it.

I found this excellent photo on Flickr where it appeared to have been uploaded by Ethiopian Eyasus Solomon. Thanks Eyasus.

The Dutch can now put their orange clothes in the cupboard until the European Football Championships.