07 March, 2008

Amsterdam... a city of water


When going to Amsterdam, I didn't know what it was going to look like. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the city has multiple canals and there are artificial islands that are being made for housing developments. It put a new spin on how a city reacts to the coast and the water in general. Open water in Amsterdam has the possibility of becoming buildable area which is something that truly blows my mind. "Oh, we need more land. Let's build some islands." I know that this has been done before, and I have seen and read about the World Islands in Dubai. However, it just really didn't strike home for me until Anneke Bokern showed us the development of the islands. It is nuts that we can manipulate the land that much, and not only that but the architecture on the islands rocked. The housing development that allowed people to hire their own architect rather have some cookie cutter house was fantastic. All of the houses were different, and they said something about their occupants. Part of me wanted to meet the people because I wanted to see how their personalities matched their home.

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