AMSTERDAM – ALONG THE NORTH-SOUTH LINE: ZUIDAS AND CENTRAL STATION AREA

DESCRIPTION – Amsterdam: Along the North-South line: Zuidas and Central Station area

This architecture tour will take us along the North-South line in Amsterdam and we will see the areas of Zuidas and Central Station.

Amsterdam Zuidas is building a completely new city district, together with developers and contractors. Numerous construction projects are contributing to this. Zuidas began primarily as an office location for leading companies, but now the area wants to be more than that: a complete, unique district where working, living and life come together.

In twenty years the Zuidas (South axis) has developed into a high-end international office and residential area. More buildings will be added in the coming years. The international architecture on the most expensive land in the Netherlands can be characterized as luxurious, tall and sometimes leading or high-profile such as the projects Valley or De Jurk. Located at Zuid WTC station, Zuidas is very easily accessible from Schiphol Airport. The nearby Free University (VU) and VU Hospital provide cooperation between knowledge/innovation and business. The City of Amsterdam is trying to increase the liveability. It wants to attract the general public and visitors to the Zuidas by means of a cultural instition of name.

The following projects stand out in the district of Zuidas: The George (DOK Architecten, 2020), The Gustav (KCAP, 2020), Mahler 4 (Rafael Viñoly, 2005), The Rock (Erick van Egeraat, 2010), ACTA (Benthem Crouwel Architecten, 2010), CIRCL pavillion (de Architekten Cie., 2017) and The Valley (MMVRDV, 2021) among many more.

Amsterdam Central Station is the city’s main train station. Its neo-Renaissance building, built between 1881 and 1889, is the work of the same architect who designed the Rijksmuseum, Pierre Cuypers. Over the years it has been renovated and currently the area is surrounded by the construction of the new metro line that will connect the north and south of the city.

After Zuidas we’ll take the underground for a short ride to continue the tour in the Central Station area. On the IJboulevard two remarkable underground (underwater) bike parkings that can house 11,000 bicycles have been realised recently. In general the complete area is transformed. At the back side of the station at the IJ-water, Eye Filmmuseum (Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, 2012), Hotel Jakarta (SeARCH, 2018) and the new Booking.com Headquarters (UNStudio, HofmanDujardin) are just a few of the buildings that attract attention.