Hotel Inntel Zaandam

Zaan is known for its charming and iconic green cottages. They just aren't usually stacked 11 stories high to make one gigantic hotel that many have deemed an architectural monstrosity.

Inspired by the small cottages of the region and Claude Monet's painting of the blue house of Zaandam, architect Wilfried van Winden set about creating a hotel that was both futuristic and retro simultaneously. Complete with 160 rooms, Turkish baths, a bar, and a swimming pool, Winden's masterpiece has all the regular amenities of a hotel. Yet its design manages to allude to the idea that there is no place like home.

Altogether, the exterior features nearly 70 cottage facades, each with a varied shade of green and different window layout. Topped off with a red-orange roof, the stacked-cottage Inntel Hotel is one of the first parts of a revitalization campaign in the city, aimed at restoring its buildings without losing the charm of the town's trademark architecture.