Inside Outside Turns Amsterdam's Gashouder into a Permanent Venue

Amsterdam's Gashouder, a 19th-century gas holder once revered as a 'temple to techno', has opened as a permanent cultural venue with capacity for 3,500 people. After years of one-off events, the Westerpark structure now hosts live and electronic music, performance and art year-round.

The conversion balances two operations: a heritage restoration of the listed 'Rijksmonument' and a subterranean extension that makes long-term functioning possible. Visitors pass through historic red-brick arches and descend into a concrete 'underworld' that mirrors the perimeter of the concert hall above.

Amsterdam-based interdisciplinary studio Inside Outside designed the architecture and interiors of that underworld as a flexible system driven by the building'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,' said Aura Luz Melis, partner at Inside Outside.

What does the new interior contain?

The design moves fast and pragmatically:

• Radial strips of light echo the former steel skeleton and guide visitors to a central gathering space, lit by a glowing lamp from Lumus Instruments that recalls the gasholder's former flame.
• Curved sliding and demountable walls of aluminium and polycarbonate shift into five event configurations, separating bar, toilets, backstage and merchandise kiosk.
• Glossy reflective PVC flooring contrasts with 'ghost' sections of matte-black corrugated steel.
• Raw steel sheet-pile retaining walls remain exposed, close to the texture of the earth behind them.

Lighting throughout takes its cue from the minimalist experimentalism of the 20th-century avant-garde Zero art movement.

How was the heritage fabric treated?

A staircase twists up to the concert hall, which has a soaring 14.5m ceiling. The exposed architecture dates to 1881 and was technically restored by architect André van Stigt of Buro van Stigt. Inside Outside handled acoustics with a trick worth noting for practitioners: new acoustic panels printed with a grainy, to-scale photograph of the building's brick walls, camouflaging the panels into the historic atmosphere.

Petra Blaisse founded Inside Outside in 1991, and the studio has pioneered shifting interior atmospheres through textile design, landscape, light and perspectives. Melis insists those layers are 'functional, flexible and demountable' rather than aesthetic gestures, and notes that over the past ten years cultural institutions have sought to become less extractive and more resourceful, making the approach more relevant.

Who runs it, and what changes for Amsterdam's music scene?

Lennart Rottier, founder of Universe Building, co-owns Gashouder and the wider Cultuurpark Westergas together with Duncan Stutterheim. For Rottier, the roof and the bricks are essential to performances, forging a connection between time, creativity and place. The programming targets a gap in Amsterdam's scene for mid-career artists, carries an alternative edge from its rave history, and still lists the National Ballet and Royal Orchestra on the agenda.

Rottier hopes the industrial architecture will challenge traditional art forms and attract younger audiences. 'The monument determines our direction, the heritage determines our values,' he said. The place-making vision operates under an owner-developer-operator model in collaboration with the municipality.

The cultural experience starts at the entrance to the 23-hectare Westerpark, in a village of 19th-century red-brick 'Hollandsche Neorenaissance' buildings holding bars, restaurants, clubs and galleries.

Inside Outside's work extends across the park: a scheme of lighting, wayfinding and bike parking, unfolding in 2028, serves a public that arrives 80 per cent by bicycle. Amid the trees, the Gashouder keeps its original silhouette before revealing the underworld that equips it for the next century.

Gashouder, Klönneplein 1, 1014 DD Amsterdam, gashouder.nl