Hotel The Exchange is an independent design hotel in central Amsterdam that playfully weaves together fashion and architecture in unique rooms ranging from one to five stars. Stock café serves an indulgent all-day breakfast and hearty, locally made snacks. The hotel forms part of an urban rejuvenation initiative in Amsterdam and like Oxenaar and Nan’s other projects, the approach was entirely coll
aborative. The pair commissioned students from AMFI (Amsterdam Fashion Institute) to create rooms using the theme Rooms Dressed as Models. Through this lens the sidewalk becomes a catwalk. Lights and tables are no longer ornaments but body accessories. Creases and pleats aren’t fabric features but structural form. Studio INA MATT collaborated on the design of the rooms and was solely responsible for the communal spaces and Stock cafe. Every one of the 61 rooms of Hotel The Exchange is completely unique. Amongst others, the Eighties Room is dressed to impress in bold and fun eighties retro style, fitted with an oversized black and white patterned sweater and a tight-fitting rainbow-coloured skirt. The Marie-Antoinette Room is dressed in 18th century costume drama style, featuring a rich mix of romantic and luxurious fabrics and era-specific details like the corset. The fabrics are all embellished by hand with stitched or stamped flower patterns in a bouquet of pink tones. The Pleats Room is inspired by the pleats and folds in a simple white T-shirt, resulting in a surreal composition of giant-size concrete pleats moulded into the room’s walls. The Rembrandt Room offers an entirely contemporary interpretation of the retired luxury fashion item – the millstone collar. The pleated collar encloses the bed like a high-tech, remote-controlled, three-dimensional origami structure, resembling the oldest example of the collar from the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The room is accessorized with contemporary 17th century-inspired furniture.
