The Movement Hotel: Former Dutch prison reforms livelihood for Syrian refugees
Selected refugees alongside professionals run the pop-up hotel providing visitors with a distinctive experience of comfortably getting locked up in a prison cell.
Ever seen a 6 tower prison complex transform into a home and workplace for asylum seekers? Here's how refugees helped turn things around.
Once known to be a notorious prison, Amsterdam's Bijlmerbages no longer houses inmates as it was permanently closed in June 2016. The Dutch government permitted refugees to stay in vacant cells of the building instead. As many as 600 refugees are temporarily allowed to stay in the building waiting to begin new lives in the Netherlands.
Occupying a revamped two-floor space in one of the former prison's six towers, The Movement Hotel as its name implies constitutes to a movement which aims to empower asylum seekers through job training, providing opportunities for them to start life afresh in the Netherlands. Personnel involved in this enterprise aim at creating a sustainable model for refugee integration on par with offering a lifetime experience to visit, explore and stay at the Bijlmerbages prison.
Selected refugees alongside professionals run the pop-up (temporary) hotel providing visitors with a distinctive experience of comfortably getting locked up in a prison cell. Reception staffs of the hotel are expected to be present round the clock to welcome and offer assistance during the stay.
The cells converted into hotel rooms are designed to offer amenities such as a double bed along with free wifi access, a private bathroom, lounge area with meeting and game room and free parking. Lunch at a restaurant operated by the Refugee Company called "A Beautiful Mess" and a private guided tour of the prison are key highlights.
IBTimes Singapore has compiled a series of images of The Movement Hotel.