NDSMeng

founded in 1916 Shipwharf NDSM was one of the biggest and most modern of Europe. Big SHELL oil tankers slid into the IJ water, accompanied by festive music and an admiring crowd. Thousands of people worked here. Many of them all their lives. Most of them started as boys, got their training on the wharf itself. You could start out as a nail boy and finish your working life an engineer. During your carreer you visited all the different departments of the wharf. It was a world on its own. A community.
Social distinction between people was visible even outside the working situation by means of your head wear: caps for blue collar and hats for white collar workers. The 'hats' worked in the clean drawing room, the 'caps' on the noisy busy workfloor. They welded together an oiltankers form small parts.
In 1984 production stops. Wages in Taiwan are lower and tankers can be made more cheaply there. The noise stops, silence sets in.
SECOND LIFE
After 1984 the terrain drifted more and more into oblivion. In 1993 artist re discover the place. They make workspaces and studios under the slope. Allthough used for manual work these become places of reflection as well. Caps work with a hat. This is a spontaneous developement: a new community is being formed through self organisation. Private persons start to mange the public terrain.
In 2000 the development speeds up. The municipality grants a subsidy for further cultural developments. Slowly but surely old buildings get more and more popular. The artist spaces become a place for the creative industry: creative services in an industrial decor. Hatswork in a caps environment. As a result the square meter prices go up every year. A now classic scenario that happened before in Docklands in London and New York.
SHOWBOAT
In 2009 the sponteneous development is officially ended. The plan for commercial development is accepted and installed. There is room for profit. The spontaneity is more and more formalized. No more shipbuilding, icons in brick will take their places. The NDSM is now a showboat for city planning.

To be able to decide on use of space you neither need a hat or a cap, you need a position. Owning and maintaining public space ain Holland is a prerogative of the state or the developer. The state more and more transfers his responsabilities to private commercial parties. Public space gets more and more scarce.
Public space is more than costs or profits. It is also cultural heritage. It is the space that connects the private spaces. It is the space where you are together as citizens. A position that neither public servant or developer has.

Every citzen gets a voucher for an area the size of their bodycontour. These vouchers can only be used when a group of a minimum of 50 persons have found a communal project. The use of the land can be anything but living or working. The upkeep and maintance is the responsablitiy of the group. When this doesn't happen the land has to be returned and another group gets the chance.

slowly but surely the contour of the old shipwharf is changing. We propose to make a steel maquette to inform and educate the public about the original lay out and use of the area.

statue of liberty at the clubhouse.
Height 8 meter

boot/office/residency
height 7 meter

office/residency
former freezing container
height 8 meter

plan for communal space on the slope of the former shipyard NDSM Amsterdam. Maintained and programmed by citizens.
This proposal was made 5 years ago. The actual outcome of the planning process is that the slope will be gentrified into a bar and podium.

To celebrate our last year in the actual Freezone of the NDSM we are making the NDSM HIGH. A couple of residencies for atists and interested parties to study alternative planning and the process of creating a freezone.

NDSM from shipwharf
to showboat

common ground,
monument for good will (2009)

We proposed to make space available for citizens. SO called common ground. A group of them can use and maintain this in an selforgasid fashion. A very suitable place would be slope X and the space around it. This will function as public space. WHat could happen there? Maybe a Place for play, but not as in leisure.

Common ground is a virtual building of good will. It can be a monument for the citizen.

The coming years both slope x and slope y will be renovated. After teh renovation the rent will be three times more high. We want to use the time left as best as we can by doing things that will be impossible in the futere.

as well, combined with a digital content, the table is an excellent tool to show new initiatives and how the industry of making has changed into the industry of services.