World Architecture Festival partnered with SWEETS hotel in its host city of Amsterdam to present an audio tour of historic bridge houses across the city’s canals. The GPS-led audio tour is available on the Geotourist app.
With this audio tour World Architecture Festival leaves a lasting imprint on the host city Amsterdam. During the Festival, held on 28-30 November 2018, attendees who represent the best and the brightest in architecture will be able take the audio tour on their smartphones at their own pace and time. Long after the Festival ends, the audio tour will be available for visitors and locals to discover and learn about the imaginative transformation of these tiny bridge houses.
Amsterdam’s bridge houses reflect the architectural styles of their time, ranging from New Objectivity and Dutch Structuralism, designed by leading practitioners, including Pieter Lodewijk Kramer and Dirk Sterenberg. The bridge houses accommodated the city’s many bridge keepers who were responsible for opening and closing bridges for passing boat traffic on the busy canals. However, with the introduction of a centralised bridge control system the bridge houses became redundant.
Since 2017 each bridge house has been transformed into an independent hotel suite with interior renovations and design by SWEETS hotel in collaboration with local architecture firm Space&Matter. The exteriors have been renovated by the City of Amsterdam. The audio tour explores the architecture and history of the first 13 of the 28 bridge houses, that have been available as hotel suites until the Festival starts. The audio tour will expand to include the remaining bridge houses as they open for accommodation.
The tour information is available on the World Architecture Festival website.