Follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter
Culture has long claimed abandoned industrial structures, drawn to their atmospheric voids and the freedom found in their decay. In 1990s Amsterdam, one such structure, a 19th-century gas holder in Westerpark, was revered as a ‘temple to techno’. Now, after hosting one-off events for years, Gashouder (Dutch for ‘gas holder’) has opened as a permanent cultural venue for live and electronic music, performance and art with capacity for 3,500 revellers.
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
Gashouder’s new chapter balances its restoration as a heritage-listed ‘Rijksmonument’ with a subterranean extension that enables its functional, long-term operation. Arriving through historic red-brick arches, visitors now descend into the old gasholder’s futuristic new concrete ‘underworld’ that directly mirrors the perimeter of the concert hall above.
Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary studio Inside Outside designed the architecture and interiors of this underworld as an experiential and flexible 21st-century system driven by the venue’s 19th-century geometry. ‘We love restoring historic industrial buildings, but we also want to lift them up with an extra layer that gives them new life,’ says Aura Luz Melis, partner at Inside Outside.
(Image credit: Peter Tijhuis)
(Image credit: Peter Tijhuis)
Radial strips of light echoing the former steel skeleton guide visitors towards a central gathering space lit with a glowing lamp by Lumus Instruments, inspired by the gasholder’s former flame. A series of curved sliding and demountable walls of aluminium and polycarbonate shift into five different event configurations, dividing the functions of the bar, toilets, backstage and merchandise kiosk.
Glitches in this sci-fi scenography reveal the raw roughness of the steel sheet-pile retaining wall, almost at one with the texture of the earth. Meanwhile, sections of glossy, reflective PVC flooring contrast with ‘ghost’ sections of matte-black corrugated steel, energising the space, alongside lighting informed by the minimalist experimentalism of the 20th century’s avant-garde Zero art movement.
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
Founded by Dutch designer Petra Blaisse in 1991, Inside Outside has pioneered shifting interior atmospheres through textile design, landscape, light and perspectives. Rather than being superfluous or aesthetic, those ‘layers’ are in fact ‘functional, flexible and demountable’, explains Melis, and over the past ten years she’s seen their work become even more relevant as cultural institutions seek to be less extractive and more resourceful.
A staircase twists up to the expansive concert hall, which has a soaring 14.5m ceiling height. The exposed architecture dates back to 1881 and was technically restored by architect André van Stigt of Buro van Stigt. Inside Outside printed new acoustic panels with a grainy, to-scale photograph of the building’s brick walls, camouflaging them abstractly into the historic atmosphere.
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
(Image credit: Peter Tijhuis)
For Lennart Rottier, founder of Universe Building and co-owner of Gashouder and the wider Cultuurpark Westergas (together with Duncan Stutterheim), the roof and the bricks are essential to the performances, forging a moment of connection between time, creativity and place. The venue’s programming plugs a gap in Amsterdam’s music scene for mid-career artists, and has an alternative edge inspired by its rave history, yet you’ll also find the National Ballet and Royal Orchestra on the agenda.
Rottier hopes the industrial architecture will challenge these more traditional art forms, while attracting younger audiences to them. ‘The monument determines our direction, the heritage determines our values,’ he explains, proud of the place-making vision that’s been forged under an owner-developer-operator model in collaboration with the municipality.
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
(Image credit: Peter Tijhuis)
This means that the cultural experience of the Gashouder starts at the entrance to the 23-hectare Westerpark, and in the village of 19th-century red-brick ‘Hollandsche Neorenaissance’ buildings hosting bars, restaurants, clubs and galleries.
Inside Outside’s collaboration extends across the park with a scheme of lighting, wayfinding and bike parking (80 per cent of Gashouder visitors arrive by bike) set to unfold in 2028. Amidst the trees, the authentic silhouette of Gashouder sculpturally looms, preserving its original power, before revealing its futuristic underworld that equips it for the next century.
(Image credit: Angelina Nikolayeva)
Gashouder, Klönneplein 1, 1014 DD Amsterdam, gashouder.nl
TOPICS