CRE8 & Apollo Hotel Amsterdam
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174 rooms with wall decoration in 8 days
The luxurious Apollo Hotel is located directly on the Zuider-Amstel Canal in Amsterdam. Since 1961 this 4-star hotel has ensured that their guests can completely relax after a day in busy Amsterdam. Due to its central location, the hotel is a popular base for many tourists who want to enjoy shopping in the Kalverstraat or visit the palace on De Dam or the nearby Olympic Stadium. When the hotel was looking for a new theme for their rooms, this Olympic Stadium provided the decisive inspiration. Amsterdam hosted the Olympic Games in 1928 and the Apollo Hotel decided that this would be the new theme for their hotel rooms. Commissioned by Kaja Interieurs we took care of the wall decoration in 174 rooms.
A challenge of Olympic proportions
At CRE8 we are the absolute specialists in designing, producing and installing wall decorations. Nevertheless, in this case there was a huge challenge because it involved a hotel that is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Secure planning was therefore extremely important. Added to that was the fact that almost all the hotel rooms had different sizes, angles and alcoves, so we had to design the wall decorations for each room. We therefore started by measuring the rooms. Two CRE8 employees traveled to Amsterdam last November to measure all 174 rooms in two days. Each room was also meticulously photographed, so that later in the planning we could determine exactly where each wall decoration should be placed and how much time this would take.
The brief was that we would match the new design with the 1928 Olympics theme to the format of the old designs, which were already on the wall. Because no digital file of these old designs was available, we called in Marjolijn Lamme. Marjolijn photographed these old designs in such a way that we could recreate everything in Illustrator. This allowed us to give each room a perfect and appropriate design that covered the old designs.
In addition to the walls, there were also mirror frames in the rooms. These, too, had to feature images from the 1928 Summer Olympics. Here the challenge was to collect as many images from these games that had sufficient quality and were also unique. The goal was to provide each room with a unique set. In addition to collecting, there was a challenge to get the images the same color, so it was a good matching set that gave the right atmosphere to the room. Our professionals were able to achieve this perfectly through image editing.
Dibond instead of photo wallpaper: Faster and more cost-effective
As the material for the wall decoration, we chose Dibond instead of photo wallpaper. The biggest advantage we made with this choice was in the time savings. The old wallpaper did not have to be removed because the Dibond panels were placed over the old wallpaper. If we had opted for photo wallpaper, a lot of time would have been lost in removing the old wallpaper, touching up the walls, mounting and the drying time the new wallpaper would have required. As a base material, Dibond may be more expensive than photo wallpaper, but the time savings make it much cheaper in the end for a hotel that needs to stay up-and-running as much as possible. Dibond panels can be attached within an hour, whereas wallpaper removal, repair and attachment generally takes two days. Also, the fact that Dibond has a nice matte look and is less prone to damage made the choice of this material easier.
The production went according to a tight schedule. Because as little as possible could be cut on-site in Amsterdam, we prepared everything in detail in our own production house in Gronau. Panels were milled to size in sequence per room and provided with their own stickers and numbering to ensure that all sets remained together until assembly. The total project involved 2500m2 of Dibond panels, which consisted of 696 unique prints.
How do you get all those panels into the rooms if you can't use stairs or an elevator?
The fact that the rooms, where the wall decorations had to be placed, were spread over seven floors and because of the size of the panels we could not use the elevator or stairs, was not an obstacle. By using a special construction of a wooden glass frame and a crane, it was easy to get the panels into the rooms without any damage. The packaging of the panels also contributed to this. The right packaging is something that we at CRE8 consider very important, because we stand behind our quality and think it is important that our customers can enjoy our products for a long time.
Preparation, professionalism and quality are the keys to success
Anyone who wants projects of this size to succeed depends on tremendous preparation. Having a good project manager is therefore essential. During this project, André de Goede helped us perfectly. He was the person who kept the Train running smoothly from measuring to assembly, so that every day we were able to deliver the rooms on time and as agreed. Each day we finished a complete department with an average of 22 rooms. We were able to do this by keeping to a tight schedule. At 6 a.m. the Dibond panels were put down in the emptied rooms so that a team of 12 fitters could install them. Then came a team that unpacked, assembled and then decorated all the furniture. A team was also present, hanging all the frames perfectly in line. After all the packing materials were cleaned up, a cleaning team came at 3:00 p.m. and made sure the rooms could be rented out by 7:00 p.m.
We were very pleased with the team at CRE8. They are specialists in producing and assembling wall decorations. The project was a real challenge, besides each room being different, the panels also had to go up via a crane. And all this within eight days.
Willemijn Groothengel, General Manager of Apollo Hotel Amsterdam
A beautiful project and a satisfied customer
In total we have completely renovated 8 departments in 8 days. We have given the rooms a completely new look where the Apollo Hotel can welcome its guests for years to come. This to the great satisfaction of the Apollo Hotel.
If you would like more information about the design, production or installation of wall decorations on a large scale, please contact us.