Day 8: Something Old... into New

In all of our previous explorations and talks, we had been focusing mostly on the Dam Square area and eastward, going towards Nieuwmarket and Centraal Station. This day, we were met at our hotel by Pieter Rings, who is a former student of Leon Deben, and a strong fan of the older architectural styles of Amsterdam. We started our tour by getting off of the tram at Dam Square, and heading west. One of our first stops was the University of Amsterdam language center, where people came to learn Dutch and any other languages that were offered. I was struck by the openness of the building, and this is something that Pieter also commented on. The rooms all had window walls, allowing you to see in and out. The walls were also curved, and in the space between the curves and the main hallways, the staircases going down to the lower floors fit very well into the created space, giving functional needs a crucial role within the design structure and ambience. From the top floor, we were able to look out at the city, and see that the sky line was relatively low, with the church steeples being the building most often peeking up higher from the surrounding rooftops.

Walking past the Anne Frank Huis, we crossed the Westerpark square into Jordaan, which used to be the working class neighborhood in earlier times of Amsterdam. There was a very large variety of eclectic shops, a better mix of residential/commercial needs in the sense of grocery market and other daily essentials. Dr. G pointed out the row of houses that held the place he had called home during his last trip to Amsterdam in October. In this area, we were also able to venture upstairs inside a canal house that was undergoing renovation. In this third floor apartment, there were windows overlooking the former cemetery now turned children’s playground, as well as a modest living room, kitchen area, and a main bedroom. The rooms seemed relatively spacious with the construction, but envisioning the place filled with furniture, it was easy to see how quickly the space would begin to feel much smaller. Incidentally, Pieter pointed out across the street the building which housed the apartment that Brad Pitt had purchased in Amsterdam some years ago. We had a small quasi discussion about the approach toward celebrities in the United States compared to Amsterdam, and I would have to agree with his sentiment that Amsterdam is much more respectful of a celebrity’s right to privacy and a chance to live a relatively normal life, unbothered by fans asking for autographs or Dutch paparazzi snapping pictures as they try doing their day to day errands. I still wouldn’t go quite as far to say the Dutch are completely immune to the celebrity clothes and perfume lines, because they still have perfume stores here that bear the names of Liz Taylor, among others.

We were able to get a peak into several semi private courtyards, including one that was for an area previously owned by the church and used for the housing of widows, making it cheaper for the church to provide for them by housing them together. Though spring had not reached full bloom yet, these areas were starting to show their potential, and it was obvious these areas were cherished and very well maintained. One courtyard area was even allowing the residence of a homeless person, with cardboard and a ratty blanket being left underneath the group mailboxes. There was a very distinct feel in the neighborhoods that had private inner courtyards. It was easy to forget that just on the other side of the building was a street with foot and bicycle traffic, and that you were just blocks away from busier car traveled streets as well. The sunlight seemed to warm up the area as the buildings all reflected the heat into the central garden square. If nothing else, having a place to leave a mark of care and beauty in your place and green spaces, the air even smelled fresher inside the courtyard than without. The necessity of these areas is even more evident when you look at the size of the space inside these homes – one area was very small, mostly single students, and the other had more elderly residents walking about; something where you can see that in order to make the smaller indoor spaces bearable, there needed to be a balance with more freely available and pleasing outdoor spaces for a respite.

Going ever further west, we also walked through an area that according to Pieter had been one of the lower income, slum type neighborhood back in the 80s. To my eye though, I thought that the definition of ghetto to Americans and Dutch has some variance, because in the U.S. we take ghetto to mean permanently condemned in all practical sense of the word, and yet this Dutch neighborhood did not appear to be an eyesore as we were walking through it. Instead of resigning a neighborhood to an eternally dismal state, the City stepped in and started to make improvements before the neighborhood ever reached that point. While it was true that we were probably the only tourists that the folk on the street saw this year, the streets still had some of the charm of Amsterdam central.

Coming out of this area, we then crossed into the Westergasfabriek Culture Park, sitting in an area that was formerly an industrial site for the West Gas Factory of Amsterdam. This area has become the public meeting and open space for the surrounding neighborhoods, all of who do not have the luxury of abundant green spaces in front of their home. The first thing that struck me as we entered the park was that I could have completely been unaware of its former status as a gas factory if I had not been informed beforehand. The historical brick buildings had been given new functions so seamlessly, it is very feasibly to believe all the historical pieces were intentionally planned into the design of the park. The café we had some coffee in was great for exposure to the inner workings, and our first reminder that these buildings had uses far less leisurely 100 years ago. Reading through the clean up efforts of the Westergasfabriek, it makes me wonder if the chemicals that we are producing in lots of production efforts today are as toxic or moreso than the things such as gas. This would be something interesting to look into, for if westergasfabriek is as bad as they come in terms of reutilization of a brownfield space, then there leaves no excuse for the United States to not take up the same efforts with areas here. A perfect example of this issue that comes to my mind is the Kodak business parks that were a few miles away from where I lived in Rochester, NY. New building initiatives have been limited due to the amount of toxic residue leftover from the film and other chemical processing. If the dangers we are creating for ourselves are far worse than the natural byproducts in Westergasfabriek, we will have to find some other way to truly maximize our exisiting infrastructures, and cut down on the attitude that suburban sprawl and new buildings are the only way to provide new business areas.


Before getting on the bus to head back in the direction of Central Station and the public library, we had a chance to look at the Amsterdamse school, a building project that was aimed to build housing for workers that reminded them of waves and palaces. The top turret structures had wavy brickwork to invoke the sense of ocean waves, and smaller cabin port windows for the ship style feel. I was very impressed with the quality of the brickwork in this building, including the front gargoyle type lionhead at the front of the building that was made entirely out of brick, much in the same way that each ship would have a mermaid, woman, or animal at its front bow.


From Central Station, we got a chance to take a look inside a hotel that was being renovated. I loved the strong architecture and glass inside this place. Next and last stop was the Public Library, from the bottom floor to the top. Walking inside, you are greated with a massive open space 8 stories high. To the right is a piano available for the fingers of trained musicians to delight the ears, and to the left a large curved workstation that housed probably 20-30 computers with internet access for visitors. This library is nothing like the stuffy, traditional libraries of the United States. This is a place to talk, make noise, share ideas, hang out, and enjoy the space. Coming out of the elevator at the 5th floor, you become aware of the mixed uses of this space, from research to additional semi private meeting rooms for presentations and lectures. Towards the final floor, there is even a café with food and beverages – this library is definitely not one to scold you for consuming food or drink while you are inside the library!

Stepping outside on the balcony, you had one of the best views of Amsterdam that I have seen so far. Because the library is situation on the River to the East of Central Station, it is able to view the entire main city to the south, at least from our vantage point. There were balconies on all 4 sides of the building, but due to time constraints of our speaker, we just visited the one. Lucky for me, Pieter was leaving our group and taking the train in the direction of Amersfoort, the area which is home to Nieuwland, my focus for research. Pieter helped me to get a train ticket, and guided me onto the right train for the trip. While he got off a few stops before Amersfoort, I felt much more comfortable with my adventure knowing at least I was off to the right start.

Getting off in Amersfoort, I was reminded how much I am exhilarated by new experiences, despite their difficulties. I had looked at a few maps beforehand, including one that Frans Dubbeldam from our Zuiderkerk presentation had demonstrated for me. I knew the general direction I wanted to go and where I should end up. Lucky for me, the metro bus that would take me there was the “Nieuwland” #2 Bus. Bingo! That took the guesswork out of that for the most part. I got on and paid the 1 euro boarding fee – once we had been on the road for about 10 mins, we turned into the Nieuwland development, and I got off at the first stop after seeing the PV panels start to appear. The first thing that struck me about this community was the care that was paid to the layout and integration of vehicles, pedestrians, cycles, and the metro system. Looking at the bus route layouts, you see that the Nieuwland route does a loop within nieuwland, and then takes you back to Central Station. I really liked this concept, because Nieuwland is designed in a larger circled that encompasses the bus route, making this form of transportation very accessible for anyone living in the community. There are bike only dedicated lanes that make getting to your home much faster by bike or on foot than by automobile, and I felt extremely safe walking around the neighborhood. Because of the time of day I was there, I didn’t really see anyone out and about that I would be able to interview and ask some questions about their experiences in the community and make some clarification about the different things I was seeing on the roofs and in the design structure that might be purposeful but not obvious to the untrained eye. So, I resolved to come back on the last day of the trip in an effort to collect some interviews and learn more about the projects from the people who are experiencing their effects day in and day out.

I gave my reading presentation on Green Urbanism, and I was sorry to have to see the class discussion end after finally getting off the ground. It was easy to see that the environmental factors are really one of the major interests at the heart of Urban Planning for me, and I hope that helped make my presentation more impactful. Like I said in the presentation, while it is true that the United States is behind the game when it comes to energy conservation and green building, and while I don’t condone using our young history and suburban differences as an excuse to NOT make the change to more environmentally friendly living, there are definitely a lot more considerations to be made, as significant changes in the way of life would be seen here compared to the more pedestrian friendly history of Europe. While Europe has also seen an increase in car usage, their foundational infrastructure of train, public transit, and “amenities in 10 min walk” approach means that it is not truly necessary for every trip out of the home to be taken by car. With a country that has a relatively old road structure, these features were already in place back when the automobile was not even in existence, and the public transportation was the only other option short of walking or using horses.

I gave the example of suburban Phoenix neighborhoods, which encompass 98% of the building in the metropolitan Phoenix area. Other than maybe 10 blocks near Arizona State University in downtown Tempe, and another 10 blocks in Downtown Phoenix, there is very little that is easily accessible in a 10-minute walk. Add to that the lack of attractive interactive landscape – who would want to spend 30 minutes walking past a cinderblock wall next to traffic moving 45 mph? It’s not an aesthetically appealing place to go, and especially in Arizona, consideration of extreme heat also cannot go unsaid.

Something else the articles on the idea of Creative Class and Amsterdam having a heightened sense of awareness, I think part of the reason there is such a rift between the United States and the European countries is our water and land boundaries. The sheer size of the United States encompasses several of the generally smaller European countries, who also have land borders for the most part – the coast countries still have an average of 50% land border. These bordering countries are all relatively economically stable, whereas the United States is bordered by Mexico to the south, and Canada’s population is generally centralized into a few major cities across the north land. With the economic disparity to Mexico that is so evident in the border towns, as well as Mexico as a whole, it is easy to get a superior country complex that does not factor in our impacts on other countries when we make the majority of our decisions. We are also not as aware of what is going on in other countries, because it usually has minimal impact on us. This removal of interest makes it harder to take inspiration at the beginning stages, or work in concert with other countries with the same goals. In Europe, the cost of green building is more likely to be streamlined since it has been a practice for a longer period of time, and with the many countries nearby, there is a solid interest in this market. In contrast, it is mostly the US and Canada who would be purchasing and investing in these technologies, and we are just simply too far behind the curve at the moment for the economic start up cost to be feasibly attractive to the general public. The only way this will step up is the partnership of government and private enterprise to get this marketing growing and able to provide for the interested market. Private funding and entrepreneurship will take off in the government can provide the incentives that make this type of investment profitable – and this is where we see the greatest disparity between the European nations and the United States. We have not made it a priority like it is overseas, and has been for the last 20 years. The majority of initial, interest and informing projects could not have gotten off the ground without government tax incentives, subsidies, or both. As a result of projects like Ecolonia, they are actively experimenting and educating their public about these benefits, and the interest is now providing the profit attainability the investors need to make this market sustainable for the long-term future.