This is the Hotel Inntel Zaandam, a madcap fairytale of a building. In fact, this 12-storey structure is, for a while, hard to take in. It looks like a trick, a conjuring act, as if some maverick architect ran off to join the circus, and learned how to balance one building on top of another, possibly while riding a bike. It's a stupefying, funny, delightful building – a quirky addition to the skyline of Zaandam, capital of the Zaanstad region and a town best known (until now) for its cocoa, biscuits and Europe's first McDonald's.
"I didn't set out to shock," says Wilfried van Winden, chief architect of WAM , the Delft-based practice behind it. "But this is, of course, an outspoken building. And the language it speaks is the architectural language of Zaanstad. It makes a big statement, sure, but the building is not an imposition – it belongs here." All the facades you see, explains the architect, are based on traditional Zaanstad houses. "From a stately notary's dwelling," he says, "to workers' cottages."
Statistics
Place: 8 out of 74 Avg (all users): 6.3423 Avg (commenters): 7.3636 Avg (participants): 6.2195 Avg (non-participants): 6.4143 Views since voting: 1672 Views during voting: 232 Votes: 111 Comments: 23 Favorites: 1 (view)
This is just a delightful building - wasn't sure it was real and thought it might be a charming ceramic piece or something. Didn't stop me from giving it one of my few 9's. Congratulations on the top ten.
Just saw this same image in Independence.
Gave this my second highest vote along with two others in this challenge. Different enough from the rest to stand out. The architectural difference throughout give it character along with the many shades of green.
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