amsterdam | barcelona

Eurotrip Part 3: The Netherlands (2 of 2)

We dropped our stuff at the hostel, The Bulldog, which apparently was the first coffee shop in Amsterdam. Interesting choice, Sophia. We headed back to Amsterdam Centraal to catch the train to Utrecht. And then I saw another BERNESE MOUNTAIN DOG (3rd one on the trip). These dogs are swiss mountain dogs, so it’s no wonder why they’re so much more popular in northern Europe. This one was named Bear. So cute.

The Hogeschool is the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences by Ector Hoogstad Architects. Most of the buildings on campus were designed by various architects, but together made up a pretty cool area for students. G-d forbid USC step back from those awful brick pattern buildings and allow a real architect to design something nice on our campus.

BasketBar by NL Architects is a basketball court that sits on top of a sunken restaurant.

The Educatorium was built in 1997 by Rem Koolhaas of OMA. It consists of exam rooms, public gathering spaces, dining hall, and lecture halls. On the rear side of the building, there is a ramp that acts as a gathering space above, and as bike storage below. The most notable feature of the educatorium is how the floorplate wraps around the facade and turns into the roof. This idea of wrapping and turning and circulating is furthured by the wrapping circulation inside and outside the project, pulling students and faculty alike through, and around the project. The rooftop garden acts as a reservoir for rain water thereby reducing sewage.

The curving floorplate is really cool because it allows visitors to really experience the formal idea in a tactile way. I sat down on the slope, which is plastered with wood on the inside, and drank a bottle of water as I observed passersby.

Minnaert Building by Neutelings Riedijk Architecten

And lastly, we went to see the Rietveld Schröder House, arguably the only house of the De Stijl movement. De Stijl, or “The Style” in Dutch, refers to neoplasticism, or the utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order in pure abstract form.

We returned to Amsterdam and had the rest of the day off.

The following morning was spent walking around the rings.

Addition to the Sarphatistraat Offices by Steven Holl. This turquoise building is a conference room pavilion available for weddings and meetings:

Garbage collection is interesting..under the little can there is a huge cavity that gets lifted every so often for emtpying:

The Whale – de Architekten Cie. West 8 was hired to redevelop the landscaping of the Eastern Docklands.

Several brightly red-colored bridges connect the islands of Borneo and Sporenburg:

Lastly, we went to see MVRDV’s Silodam Housing block. It sits on the water and is organized by different unit types, color coded on the outside:

La Grande Cour – Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten:

On our way back south to the center of the city to say goodbye to Olivier and thank him for showing us around for the past two weeks, we passed by the famous bike garage ramp near Amsterdam Centraal:

That concluded the school portion of our trip, but we had until that Tuesday to get back to Barcelona. A group of 6 of us stayed in Amsterdam for 1 more day, and then headed off to Prague and Berlin. The next morning, we went to see the Anne Frank House, the famous “I amsterdam” landmark, the Heineken factory, and I met up with Jason’s parents at Soul Aviv’s performance at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.

Unfortunately, they do not allow photos in the Anne Frank House, and they hire extremely rude employees. Regardless, it was a must-see. We grabbed some breakfast at a recommended “pancake” restaurant:

Some of us got salmon, and mexican pancakes, but the pineapple-banana-ice cream was just calling my name…

Climbing up on the letters was much easier than I thought it would be. Tecktoniking on the “d” was much harder than I thought it would be.

The whole brewing process was pretty interesting. They let us taste at several different stages throughout the process/tour, and buy a custom label for your own Heineken. Yes, I got one.

Had to pound my beer and catch the metro to the north side of town to see the Raede’s before going back to the hostel, grabbing my stuff, and hopping on the overnight train to Prague.