In the 1990s, a disused 19th-century gas holder in Amsterdam‘s Westerpark was known as a ‘temple to techno’. Now the building serves as the amsterdam gas holder venue for live and electronic music, performance and art.
Gashouder, Dutch for ‘gas holder’, holds up to 3,500 people. For years it hosted one-off events. Its new permanent programme turns it into a working cultural institution.
A new underground beneath the old drum
The restoration treats the structure as a heritage-listed Rijksmonument. The project also adds a subterranean extension, which makes long-term operation possible.
Visitors enter through the original red-brick arches. They then descend into a new concrete level that follows the circular footprint of the concert hall above.
Amsterdam studio Inside Outside designed the architecture and interiors of this lower level. The team set out to build a flexible system shaped 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.
Radial strips of light repeat the lines of the former steel skeleton. They pull visitors toward a central gathering space, where a glowing lamp by Lumus Instruments hangs. The lamp takes its inspiration from the gas holder’s former flame.
Curved sliding and demountable walls, made of aluminium and polycarbonate, reconfigure the space. They create five event layouts and separate the bar, toilets, backstage area and merchandise kiosk.
Gashouder’s flexible, demountable interior has a close cousin in Paris, where a postwar prefab was reborn as a tea house. Jean Prouvé’s demountable pavilion turned Japanese tea house shows how temporary-minded design can serve heritage spaces.
Raw surfaces remain visible in places. The steel sheet-pile retaining wall shows through in sections, and it sits close to the texture of the surrounding earth. Glossy reflective PVC flooring sits beside matte-black corrugated steel, and the lighting draws on the minimalist experiments of the Zero art movement.
Layers that can be removed
Inside Outside was founded by Dutch designer Petra Blaisse in 1991. The studio has built a reputation for shifting interior atmospheres through textiles, landscape, light and perspective. Melis says these added layers are “functional, flexible and demountable,” not decorative.
Melis has seen demand for this approach grow over the past decade. Cultural institutions increasingly want to use existing buildings with less waste and more resourcefulness.
A staircase rises to the concert hall, which has a ceiling height of 14.5 metres. The exposed architecture dates to 1881. Architect André van Stigt of Buro van Stigt carried out the technical restoration.
Inside Outside printed new acoustic panels with a grainy, full-scale photograph of the building’s brick walls. The panels blend the surfaces into the historic setting.
Programming for a gap in the music scene
Lennart Rottier founded Universe Building. He co-owns Gashouder and the wider Cultuurpark Westergas with Duncan Stutterheim. For Rottier, the roof and the brickwork are central to the performances, because they link time, creativity and place.
The programme targets mid-career artists, a group that Rottier says Amsterdam’s music scene has underserved. Its alternative character draws on the music venue’s rave history. The calendar also includes the National Ballet and the Royal Orchestra.
Rottier hopes the industrial setting will push traditional art forms in new directions. He also expects it to bring younger audiences to them. “The monument determines our direction, the heritage determines our values,” he says.
Gashouder’s mix of rave history and industrial drama has parallels in theatre reuse, where a performance venue is reshaped around its raw materials. Takero Shimazaki’s reclaimed-materials overhaul of The Yard Theatre is worth a look for its similar approach to live performance spaces.
The project runs under an owner-developer-operator model, developed with the municipality of Amsterdam. Rottier describes the arrangement as a place-making vision built over time.
Reaching the amsterdam gas holder venue by bike through Westerpark
The visit begins at the entrance to Westerpark, a 23-hectare park. Nearby, a village of 19th-century red-brick Hollandsche Neorenaissance buildings houses bars, restaurants, clubs and galleries.
Inside Outside is also working on the park outside the amsterdam gas holder venue. A scheme for lighting, wayfinding and bike parking is planned for 2028. Around 80 per cent of Gashouder visitors arrive by bike, so the bike parking matters.
The gas holder’s outline still rises above the trees. Its underground addition prepares the building for another century of use. More details are available at insideoutside.nl.
Gashouder is at Klönneplein 1, 1014 DD Amsterdam. The amsterdam gas holder venue shows how a heritage structure can carry new uses without losing its industrial character.
Sources & Links
Source: wallpaper.com
Frequently asked questions
How many people can Gashouder hold in Amsterdam?
Gashouder, the gas holder venue in Amsterdam’s Westerpark, holds up to 3,500 people. It hosts live and electronic music, performance and art.
Who designed the new underground level beneath Gashouder?
Amsterdam studio Inside Outside designed the architecture and interiors of the new lower level beneath Gashouder. The team built a flexible system shaped by the venue’s 19th-century geometry.
What percentage of Gashouder visitors arrive by bike?
Around 80 per cent of Gashouder visitors arrive by bike. For this reason, a planned scheme for bike parking in Westerpark matters to the venue.
Who co-owns Gashouder and Cultuurpark Westergas?
Lennart Rottier, founder of Universe Building, co-owns Gashouder and the wider Cultuurpark Westergas with Duncan Stutterheim.
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