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The houses of Borneo are located to the east of Amsterdam’s city center. The site, a former Docklands area, was redeveloped into a residential area accomodating 2500 housing units including three large apartment buildings and small housing blocks. The street below is an attempt to bring the concept of the canal house to the 21st century. Within the confinements of Dutch building regulations and the urban plan by West 8/Adriaan Geuze an international team of architects designed the houses, each of which is unique (MVRDV got 2). Following its completion in 2000 both the scheme and the houses received a lot of international acclaim.
Brian
The food culture in the Netherlands is an interesting one. The country is not necessarily known for any food or preparation method, just the heartiest (read, greasiest) foods of the diverse cultures found in the country, Amsterdam especially. In addition to the delicious doner kebap, the Argentinian steaks, and pastry shops, you must try the Vlaamse frites. These are wax paper cones of fries covered in the condiment of your choice. Mayonnaise is the usual here, but you can also get ketchup or curry sauce. There are stands all over the city, some decorated more interestingly than others. This shop located on Westermarkt, when closed, has a painting of the 'Creation of Adam' with the spark of life being the Vlaamse fries.
Elizabeth Conte
Since the 17th century, Amsterdam has been one of the largest historic centers in Europe. During this time, a series of semi-circular canals (or grachten) were dug around the old city center. After the construction of the canals, houses and other buildings were built along the canals. Today, houses are still built along the canals thus making the canals one of the main elements that defines the organization and layout of Amsterdam. Many of the houses are built up on wooden piles for support above the canals. Having a house on the canal allows the residents access to a boat docking area. The canals are used for transportation in some areas of the city whether it is by a personally owned boat or by one of the city “canal buses.” The canals give Amsterdam a unique appearance that not many cities have and make it an interesting city to visit and explore.
Amy Altman
The Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam is annually one of the best rated airports in the world. I was particularly impressed with the airport's cleanliness. One thing I noticed, while in the airport recently, was what looked like a real fly in all of the urinals in the mens' bathrooms. After doing some internet research on this detail, I found that it was first introduced at the Amsterdam airport, and has been recognized and discussed worldwide. The flies in the airport are etched into the porcelain, but there is now a website that sells the stickers - www.urinalfly.com. Here is an excerpt from about.com's blurb on the fly in the urinal:
"This story is a bit dated — it has been floating about the Internet in various forms since 1997, with the earliest version attributed to an article in the Wall Street Journal — but it is true. Most recently, the fly-in-urinal concept was touted as a prime example of "human-friendly design" by engineering professor Kim Vicente in his book, "The Human Factor" (Routledge, 2004)."If you go to the men's washrooms at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam," Vicente wrote, "you may notice there's a fly in the urinals. So what do you think most men do? That's right, they aim at the fly when they urinate. They don't even think about it, and they don't need to read a user's manual; it's just an instinctive reaction. The interesting feature of these urinals is that they're deliberately designed to take advantage of this inherent human male tendency."
Will Wingfield
Check out my Video BlogIn Amsterdam, biking is a way of life. Thousands of Amsterdamers hop on bikes daily to get to work, the store, or anywhere else. It is said that there are 700,000 bicycles in the city! Out of this, 80,000 of them are stolen and 25,000 end up in the canals every year. Biking is prefered particularly in the city centre where streets are closed off and cars are discouraged. It is also a source of private transportation, when public transportation becomes too much of a hassle. Bikes can be rented for about 6 Euro a day. In addition to being convenient, they are also a great vehicle for recreation and leisure.
Greg Scarmo
THE FROZEN FOUNTAIN
Prinsengracht 629
T +31 (0)20 6229375
mail@frozenfountain.nl
Opening hours:
from 13:00 - 18:00 Monday
from 10:00 - 18:00 Tuesday till Friday
from 10:00 - 17:00 Saturday
The Frozen Fountain (MAP) is located at the Prinsengracht canal in Amsterdam, the oldest and arguably most beautiful part of Amsterdam. They specialize in Dutch design and organize expos for up and coming Dutch designers on a regular basis. It's Amsterdam's first stop when it comes to design shopping - a must for anyone into cutting edge home-wares, lighting, fabrics & furniture. Less a furniture shop and more an interior design museum and art school showcase rolled into one, the Frozen Fountain is as far removed from regular home-ware shops of Swedish nature as Alessi is from Tupperware. But it’s no easy job compartmentalising this sprawling store of interconnected rooms filled with domestic treasures both large and small.But it’s not just the big guns of interior design jostling for space. Since its inception in 1985 Frozen Fountain’s Dick Dankers & partner Cok de Rooy have developed extensive contacts with local and international art & design academies to bring attention to emerging young designers. It also established in 1998 the Dutch Individuals Foundation to establish links between emerging artists + industry. And with savvy upscale home-ware stores in North America making it their first purchasing stop in Europe, an exhibition or commission from Frozen Fountain often leads to international success. Recent commissions have even been purchased by collections including Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
