Hotel Pontsteiger

The building's architects were told to maximize the top floors for views and the bottom floors for street life, then essentially minimize everything between, which is how Amsterdam ended up with one of its more quietly dramatic waterfront shapes. Inside the twenty-five room hotel, raw concrete ceilings meet floor-to-ceiling windows and a white-on-white palette warmed by parquet and contemporary art. Junior suites add freestanding tubs for anyone who came to stare at the IJ.