With the help of carpet manufacturer Desso, a selection of young and well-known Dutch top designers have decorated and designed the brand-new Teaching Hotel 'Château Bethlehem' in Maastricht. Château Bethlehem will be managed almost entirely by students of the Hotel Management School. This unique teaching arrangement offers the school an opportunity to integrate the latest developments in hospitality into its study programme. As a result, Teaching Hotel 'Château Bethlehem' is a truly innovative learning environment for students. A total of 12 interior designers have designed and decorated this 26-room hotel, which was originally built in the 13th century.
Hotel 'Château Bethlehem' is a platform that focuses on hospitality and it will facilitate an exchange of knowledge at a variety of levels. It will thus become a meeting place for creativity, hospitality, innovation, design and inspiration.The hotel will officially open on 10 September 2010. It is situated on the campus of the Hotel Management School and is now also open to the public.
The cutting edge of new carpet design
Desso has furnished this Maastricht hotel with a total of 900 m²
of carpets, some of which were specially designed and custom woven
Axminster and Wilton carpets. The design-oriented nature of
Teaching Hotel 'Château Bethlehem' fits perfectly with Desso's
contemporary carpet design concept embodied in the Desso Design
Library. This concept allows designers to determine which carpet
designs best fit with the experience they are striving to
create.
Alexander Collot d'Escury, CCO of Desso and member of the HHM Advisory Board said: 'The resulting interiors show that when using high-quality, modern carpet to give a hotel a totally unique character, the possibilities for architects and designers are endless. This custom-woven carpet offers an unlimited number of variations in terms of design and colour scheme. In terms of durability and maintenance convenience, it is especially suited for the hospitality sector.'
Desso already has plans to remain involved with the hotel after its opening. Together with the other firms that were involved in the hotel's design, Desso will form a newly established 'think tank', intended to provide collaborative inspiration and new ideas for the entire hotel world.
Background information about 'Château
Bethlehem'
In 2008, work started on the extensive renovation and redecoration
of this castle, which dates from the 13th century. In addition to
26 elegantly designed hotel rooms, the hotel features a restaurant
with 130 seats, a hotel bar and various conference rooms with
modern furnishings.
The hotel rooms were expertly decorated by Piet Hein Eek, Studio Job, Richard Hutten, Evelyne Merkx, Jurgen Bey, Fleur Muris and Marcel van Neer, D/Dock (Francesco Messori and Martijn Jans) and Gerben van der Molen of Stars Design. Bart Hagevoort is responsible for the design of the bar, and Leon de Lange is responsible for the restaurant. The meeting areas were designed by Luc Coenegracht, and Bart Vos drafted the plan for the public areas.
DESSO: international market leader in hotel
carpets
Thanks to its combination of design and high quality,
Desso is the international market leader in the hotel sector. In
addition to Teaching Hotel 'Château Bethlehem', Desso supplies
carpets to a wide range of 5-star hotel chains and individual
hotels including Hilton, InterContinental, Marriott, Meridien, NH,
Radisson, Sheraton, Amstel Hotel, Hotel des Indes and Hotel de
l'Europe. Desso offers a broad range of high-quality Axminster and
Wilton products that are designed especially for the hospitality
sector, as well as custom-made floor coverings and an extensive
standard collection of products.
Special carpet for improving air quality as well as an
acoustically-balanced carpet for hotels
The newly developed Airmaster® tile carpet offers hotels
the opportunity to deal effectively with the problem of airborne
particulate matter found in many interior spaces. This new carpet
is eight times more effective in absorbing particulate matter than
simple hard floor covering and four times more effective than any
standard carpet. Furthermore, Desso recently started supplying its
Soundmaster® carpet tiles to hotels. Partly made from recycled
materials, this carpet has been especially designed to improve the
acoustics of the surrounding room. It absorbs a considerable amount
of noise and causes a 60% improvement in the room's acoustic
performance compared to a standard carpet. Both Airmaster®
and Soundmaster® tiles are available in dozens of varieties.
Because of their function, durability and design, they are of
excellent practical use in any hotel environment.