minorities,’ says Karim van Oort. ‘When you’re in the
centre, with social housing there disappearing, you
don’t see the real Amsterdam. Inside the ring road,
there’s only place for the wealthy to live.’ In other
words, as central Amsterdam calciies into a traditional,
homogenous version of itself, the Bijlmer is pointing
towards the city’s future.
Karim van Oort still works some weekends at
Oma Ietje, a shipping crate café located near the
Mecanoo-designed Nelson Mandelapark and
surrounded by the graphic murals of the creative
community. She says it’s where Bijlmer’s ‘two worlds
come together’, and where the creative strategist
Hans Meiboom seems to know every patron walking in.
A so-called Bijlmer Believer, Meiboom bought into
a neighbourhood high-rise in 1989, raised his family in
one of the newer low-rises and worked on the borough’s
rebranding. In 2013, he founded Metro Movies, a free
outdoor cinema programme screening ilms such as
Dear White People and Straight Outta Compton in a
sheltered tract under the railway line. He recently also
co-opted the Gaasperdammertunnel, an underpass
where the busy A9 motorway will soon be diverted
so the ground level can be transformed into parkland.
Like van den Akker, who hopes to reclaim the
Bijlmer name with hospitality and small-batch ales,
Meiboom is on a mission of sorts: to continue
the optimistic work of Siegfried Nassuth. ‘Bijlmer
was created as an idealist experiment that had no
connection with the lives of people living here,’ he
says. ‘Starting over has created something authentic –
more authentic than the rest of Amsterdam.’ ∂As central Amsterdam calcies, the Bijlmer
is pointing towards the city’s future’
THIS PICTURE, THE ELEVATED
METRO LINE PASSES THROUGH
A LOCAL ATHLETICS TRACK
BELOW, ENTREPRENEUR
SARRIEL TAUS HAS OPENED
A BOOMING FOOD COURT126 ∑
Architecture Icon