Studio Modijefsky Discovers the Power of Three in Rotterdam’s CityHub Hotel

Rotterdam’s Witte de Withstraat is two neighborhoods in one: by day, it’s a bustling art district, while after dark it’s a neon-lit nightlife destination. The new CityHub does one better, combining the interiors of three Withstraat buildings into a single hotel, courtesy of the vision and hard work of Amsterdam’s Studio Modijefsky.

“The difference in levels, floor- and ceiling heights, and connecting [them all] without turning the hotel into a labyrinth was quite a design challenge,” says founder Esther Stam. One answer was separate color schemes for each building, with tones that gradually darkened from floor to floor as the natural light increases. Another is a custom linear chandelier that guides guests up the new staircase and along each hallway. And just as the hotel embraces a modern DIY ethos (guests check themselves in and can pour themselves a bar in reception) Stam and her team custom designed almost all its furnishings, including the sink, cabinets, and fittings in shared bathrooms decorated in tones of pink of blue that correspond to the buildings they’re in, not the gender of guests.