Client: Curaliving N.V. Curaçao
Program: Hotel

Status: Completed

Pietermaai, Willemstad

2008

In Willemstad Curacao you’ll find the yellowhotel called ‘t Klooster. We restored the hotel of 1200 m2. This building was originally a monumental building and was used as a monastery.

Preserving history

The Dutch word for monastery is ‘Klooster’. This explains the name of the hotel. This colorful project was a challenging restoration project. In the restoration of this former monastery, we strive to preserve its monumental qualities. While retaining these qualities, we have made additions to make the hotel part of the contemporary and modern Caribbean architecture. However, this was always in the shadow of the monument. In defining the new floor plans for the hotel rooms, the existing window and door openings were leading. In this way, we did not reverse the entire structure and the monument still remained recognizable.

Daylight

Bringing daylight back into the building was also an important starting point. Bringing daylight back into the building was a real necessity. Over time, the building had become a dark ‘dungeon’. To solve this, we installed a deep ‘cavity wall’ on the south and east sides to serve as a buffer between the school and the rooms. This cavity wall is multi-functional. In addition to providing daylight to the building, this cavity wall also houses the bathrooms of the small rooms.

Watch this video where you can see the entire hotel from the air. It is also a little sneak peak at the interior and facilities that ‘t Klooster Hotel offers.

Gallery