Where the hotel meets the city

Within the global hospitality landscape, Hilton continues to redefine the hotel concept, moving beyond the model of simple accommodation to create an urban platform for building relationships, experiences and identity. DoubleTree by Hilton plays a vital role in this strategy, offering welcoming, informal and meticulously curated spaces designed for both guests and residents. This vision is at the heart of the refurbishment of the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal, a project led by the Antwerp-based studio WeWantMore. The objective was clear from the outset: to strengthen the hotel’s role as a social hub by opening up the lobby, bar and restaurant to the city, transcending the boundaries of a typical hotel space.

A practice renowned internationally for its high-impact retail and hospitality design projects, WeWantMore undertook a comprehensive reorganisation of the communal areas. “For the DoubleTree by Hilton Amsterdam Centraal Station, we redesigned the lobby, bar and restaurant as warm, flexible spaces that reflect Amsterdam’s creative energy,” says interior designer Masha Nazarenko. The project focuses on key areas to create versatile environments that remain vibrant throughout the day, fostering social interaction through a strong visual identity and tactile materials. At the entrance, a striking 3D-printed ceiling installation references Amsterdam’s iconic triple-X coat of arms, acting as a visual thread that connects the various spaces.

The award-winning on-site restaurant, We Are EDN, is effectively a “project within a project”. Conceived as an inviting all-day dining space, it aims to connect the hotel with nature while capturing the city’s creative energy. The interior is both flexible and functional, with textile partitions, movable furniture and a variety of seating allowing for a dynamic transition from breakfast to lunch and dinner. An intense colour palette – ranging from forest green and terracotta orange to natural wood – creates a welcoming atmosphere, complemented by a display of artworks curated in collaboration with Veitenheimer Art Consultancy and featuring artists such as Jordy van den Nieuwendijk, Simone Poste, Evan Powell, Simon Moore and Raquel Rodrigo.

The choice of materials was a key design tool, used to create a complete sensory experience – both tactile and visual – that combines beauty, contemporaneity and durability.

Porcelain stoneware collections from Atlas Concorde played a key role in translating this vision into high-performance surfaces. In the lobby, the Boost Natural Kaolin collection pairs a raw earth effect with warm, textured wood tones, while the Breath collection introduces a wood-effect surface with a crossed X motif: “Every material had to reflect Amsterdam’s character while meeting the practical needs of a busy hotel.” For the bar, the designers specified Heartwood Moka, which reinterprets Italian oak and meets the requirements of one of the highest-traffic areas of We Are EDN.