SWEETS
by Space&Matter

SWEETS hotel is a collection of 28 former bridge-keepers houses scattered throughout Amsterdam’s famous canals.

To date, 20 bridge houses are completed and open. 

When the city’s bridges became centrally operated, these houses were left standing as unoccupied, forgotten relics of Amsterdam’s past.

Space&Matter saw an opportunity to transform them, and partnered with the Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy and Grayfield developers to formulate a new hotel concept.

As a designer hotel, SWEETS prides itself in its individually designed rooms, but there is no lobby, restaurant or rooftop bar here. Instead, the neighborhood of each bridge house serves these purposes.

This offers guests the opportunity to explore different areas, and experience the city from a unique local perspective.

At SWEETS the city itself becomes the hotel, and the canals the corridors. 

Constructed from 1673 to 2009 and varying in size from 12 to 70 m2, the bridge houses of SWEETS hotel come in a rich variety of shapes and styles.

From a 1970s structuralist monochrome cube, to a 1960s modernist three-storey red brick tower. 

The interiors have been carefully and thoughtfully restored to pay homage to the architectural heritage of its exteriors, echoing anything from 1920s era Amsterdam School style, to a 1960s plush pink parlour.

SWEETS shows how the unused bridge houses can transform the concept of the hotel, reinvent the conventional tourist experience, and capture the forgotten histories of Amsterdam.

First initiated in 2012 as an urban space project, SWEETS hotel is now 8 years in the making. 20 bridge houses are currently available, with more coming soon.

Type Initiative and Concept Development Space&Matter
Location Amsterdam
Year 2010 - ongoing
Status First 18 bridge houses open
Collaborators Seven New Things – founders of Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy, Grayfield
Photography courtesy of Lotte Holterman and SWEETS Hotel
Luchtpark Azatlyk Square Schieblock and Luchtsingel Vestre Fjordpark Municipal Stadium Shelter New access and store in the Burgos Cathedral House of Wine A6K Advanced Engineering Centre

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