WHERE DUTCH ARCHITECTURE IS A JOKE

The gable of the Zaandam Stadhuis (Town Hall) enters into the playful spirit of things.

Dutch architects have been hard at work in and around Amsterdam, inserting colourful humour into some very public buildings, and it’s remarkable that, in the Zaanstreek, local planning authorities have been happily going along with the joke.

THE SHAPE OF OTHER THINGS – day of Amsterdam architecture

IJDOk – Hotel Room Mate Aitana.

Continuing our weekend of exploring Amsterdam on the second Dag van de architectuur, Mevrouw T and I rode the bikes along the Ij harbour from Centraal Station to the new development at IJ Dok.

Like it or loathe it, it’s certainly at the pointy end of Dutch design.

IJBURG IMAGES – shock of the new in Amsterdam

Over the Ij Bridge, a.k.a. the ‘Bra Bridge’.

Holland is full. Amsterdam is full. So when the Dutch need somewhere to put new housing, they think about all that wasted sea-bed just lying there waiting for people to live on it.

The new development at Ijburg has been years in the making and is still a work in progress. Building began in 1997 on six artificial islands east of the Amsterdam city centre. To see how things were coming along, Mevrouw T and I rode the bikes over the Ij Bridge, locally known as the BH-Brug or Bra Bridge, thanks to its two bulges.