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decision. “They have their own garden, something
we’d never have been able to afford on the other sid
of the river.” His three-bedroom house is now wort
an estimated €75,000 more than he paid for it, a
common story for homeowners here.
Once they’re teenagers, Harings’s kids won’t hav
to look far for inspiration should they wish to make
the most of their newly hip ’hood. Dad’s website
ilovenoord.nl
is a guide to every new cultural and
commercial development in the area. So far, it’s
only in Dutch, but there are plans to launch an
English-language version soon. Given the flurry of
activity all around the area, it looks like his 12-stro
team of volunteer editors will have their hands full.
Formerly a 20,000m
2
ship-building hangar, the
once-derelict NDSM wharf, with its vast Noorderli
café hangout has, over the past five years or so, bec
the
place to be for Amsterdam’s artists and creative
entrepreneurs, thanks to its abundance of space an
inspiring views over the water. Hipsters from arou
the Netherlands flock to the high-profile summer
music festivals – such as Robodock, IJazz and Ove
IJ – held in and around its halls, and MTV Networ
Europe has been headquartered here since 2007.
summer, an entirely new yacht marina is opening
next door. It’s being built by HISWA, which is also
relocating its prestigious In-Water Boat Show here
from September.
Following the recent relocation of the Motive
Gallery from the picturesque Jordaan to the brave
world of NDSM, local art expert Catherine Somzé
points out that, “these days, [established Amsterda
art dealers are often heard discussing plans to mov
to the large industrial buildings on the other side of
the IJ [bay].” It’s all quite a change for an area onc
dismissed as a cultural wasteland. Indeed, there w
a delicious irony to last winter’s local production
H
godvergeten Noord
(The God-Forgotten Noord) – a
look back through the area’s drab history performe
trendy conceptual theatre company M-Lab.
The multimillion-euro relocation in early April
the city’s EYE Film Institute, from its former home
the stately south-westerly Vondelpark to gleaming
Left
, the
repurposed
Kraanspoor
crane dock on
Amsterdam’s IJ
waterway now
has a glassed-in
office block
over it;
above,
renovated
1960s flats in
the Noord
district;
below
,
Queen’s Day
celebrations
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