The Amsterdam Waterfront The struggle for identity

1
The Amsterdam WaterfrontThe struggle for
identity
Jeroen Saris 9 October 2006
de Stad bv
2
Content

• The context of the 80s
• Financing Infrastructural projects
• Searching for the future of Amsterdam
• Return to the IJ
• Recent development
• Amsterdam bridge to the future

3
Amsterdam in the 80s

• Industrial decline and fall of the inner city
• Squatters and confrontations
• Redevelopment by social housing
• Informal counter culture
• Bijlmer disapointment in functionalism
• Compact City
• Political left in confusion

4
Amsterdam on expedition

• Tin Tin in Battery Park
• The Baltimore Development Company
• The Reichman imperium in Toronto
• Thatchers Canary Wharf

5
Major ambitions, disastrous results

• Amsterdam financial centre
• in competion for the European Bank
• Olympic Games to fill the void

The masterplan IJ borders, 1990
6
Return to the IJ

• Central Station, error of the industrial era
• Separation of city and waterfront
• IJ axis reconnecting the centre to the ring

7
Koolhaas / AWF masterplan 1992
8
The edge of the centre

• Morphological studies of the structure of piers
  and peninsulas.
• Rem Koolhaas studying the limits of the possible
  
• A dreamteam of young architects
• No reliance on the dynamics
• Form without content

9
(No Transcript)
10
Recent Development

• City on the waterfront
• Mixed use
• Respect for history
• New identity

11
Investment value
demolition / building
Commercial development
autonomous development
time
20
0
10
30
Offices impuls
Cultural impuls
12
(No Transcript)
13
(No Transcript)
14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
Project development
desirable
possible
feasable
Convergency

• Decline of degrees of freedom
• definition of the project
• instrumentation
• decision
• implementation

19
Explorative studies
trends
reconsidering
perspectives
Divergency

• Purpose
• increase of options to act
• enlarge the limits of the feasable
• interaction between actors

20
Venetian Bridge
Diverging
Converging
Interaction, stakeholders, coalition
Entrepreneural partnership
Identity
Conditions
programme
implementation
vision
Values/images
perspectives
sources
21
Conclusion

• Dont start a project by making an ambitious
  masterplan
• Ambitions and plans should be the result of
  connecting identity and history with ambitions
  and partners
• The Amsterdam bridge