Chateau Bethlehem, a 13th-century chateau surrounded by bucolic gardens, is home to the Maastricht Hotel Management School; it's also a teaching hotel with rooms designed by leading lights in the Dutch design scene.
A couple of years ago, under the direction of noted Dutch designer Henk Vos, 26 rooms were renovated by 12 established and up-and-coming designers (we especially like Piet Hein Eek's vision for the four rooms he designed, shown below). The hotel is open to to the public, and guests are waited on by the school's students in training. For more information, visit Hotel Management School Maastricht.
Photography by Thomas Mayer (except where noted).
Above; The 13th-century Chateau Bethlehem is located close to the border of Belgium.
Above: The Maastricht restaurant, designed by Leon de Lange, riffs on a classroom theme. Photograph courtesy of the hotel's website.
Above: Room 17, designed by Piet Hein Eek, is a family room with built-in bunks to accommodate children.
Above: The half-painted motif continues across the wardrobe and the bunk beds.
Above: A wardrobe and bench are made from Eek's trademark scraps of wood.
Above: The headboard is made from painted scrap wood.
Above: The built-in bunk beds and the master bed are by Piet Hein Eek.
Above: A custom light feature.
Above: Room 18 features a continuous furniture system; the table, bed, desk, and wardrobe are all one large installed object.
Above: Room 25 also features built-in modular pieces.
Above: In Room 19, the furniture is painted the same shade of gray as the linens. Hein Eek filled the room with what he describes as "a motley collection of stuff from the attic, our own collection, and the second-hand shop. Since everything in the room is gray, the photos take on a surrealistic painting-like quality."