Amsterdam architecture tours

Boat ride by appointment for groups from 15 till 70 persons, smaller groups please contact me, duration: 1,5 hours, price from € 25 p.p.

As a result of the many developments, the central IJ has become a hotspot for which there is great international interest. Let your company join you on the varied route across the wide IJ and through more intimate inland waterways. You will sail along Oosterdokskade, Nemo, Muziekgebouw, Eye, Overhoeks, NDSM, Silodam, Houthavens, Pontsteigergebouw and Westerdok. Your architecture guide indicates the new, pioneering architecture, the IJ bank plan and the (relationship with the) historic buildings. In addition, there is plenty of room to meet, if desired with something to eat or drink. Possible arrangements:

Architecture boat on the IJ with lunch in Artists Society Arti et Amicitiae

Architecture boat on the IJ with a visit at the A’dam tower and an appatizer in the Eye filmmuseum

Bike tour by appointment, duration: three hours, price: € 25 p.p., excluding bike, € 35 p.p. including bike, minimum number of persons 7, or as a private tour see Rates private tours, start and end point Oosterdokskade 63A (Mac Bike).

By bike along the transformed banks of the IJ an the IJ: the new centre of Amsterdam. Due to the opening of the North-South metro line and the remarkable construction projects on both banks of the IJ, the IJ has become a sparkling lake in the middle of Amsterdam. Everything that is up to date in the field of modern architecture and urbanism can be found here. Discover this highly varied business card of Amsterdam with iconic public buildings, circular architecture, most luxurious homes with shower cubicles of 18m2 to entire starter homes of 18m2, a Dudok-style waterfront house, a greenhouse house, water houses and cultural incubators in industrial heritage. You will see and learn about the renovated Central Station, IJdock, Silodam, Houthavens, Pontsteiger building, NDSM shipyard, Buiksloterham and Overhoeks.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

Modern architecture walk about the approach and results of the transformation of the IJ river banks. You will also see the inside of a number of buildings located along the IJ: the Jakarta Hotel, the Muziekgebouw, the library and the remodeled Central Station. Depending on the time remaining, there is still room for IJdock or Eye on the northern IJ bank. A mix of sustainable architecture, waterfront architecture, civic architecture and iconic public buildings.

Two-hour walk or bike ride by appointment. Price p.p.: €17.50 Minimum number of persons 8 or as private tour, see Rates private tours

You will see how the Buiksloterham industrial area in Amsterdam North is being transformed into a circular live/work neighborhood. The model neighborhood with experimental and leading sustainable building projects is just a stone’s throw from the ferry and downtown. Attractively priced self-build plots and collective-private commissioning projects generated building activity during the economic crisis. An energy-neutral greenhouse house, wooden high-rise buildings, residential buildings that can be flexibly divided and easily dismantled, the largest sustainable floating village in Europe, Schoonschip…. This tour will bring you up to speed on many circular techniques and forms of housing.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

On the northern bank of the IJ is a still “pristine” industrial area. Architectural firms and other creatives are housed there in old buildings. The City of Amsterdam has made a plan for this conveniently located area on the IJ. A residential district will rise here with towers and some very high tower accents. Besides housing, manufacturing industry will be established/reinforced in the lower (existing) buildings. The future bridge connection across the IJ between Johan van Hasseltweg and Azartplein will ensure good accessibility.

Walking tour or bicycle tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups € 17,50 p.p. excl. bicycle, price for private tour see Fees Private Tours

Dairy supplier for Amsterdam, location for shippingindustrie and garden villages, dump for antisocial families: the by the IJ-water isolated Amserdam Noord was for a long time not the place to be. Roles are changed. Former industrial sites turned into breedingplaces, garden villages became heritage, in between appear attractive new neighbourhoods. Further on we find the experimental neighbourhoods from the sixties: Plan Van Gool en Molenwijk. Where are the authentic people from Amsterdam Noord? Read more about Noord

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

The Haarlemmerdijk was the main western access road to Amsterdam. Inns and other dike buildings appeared on the dike outside the city wall. From 1613, this area was part of Amsterdam within the new canal plan. Between the luxurious residential area along the canals and the new working islands in the IJ, a mixed, lively neighborhood with different building types formed. In the 19th century, the Haarlemmerbuurt lost direct contact with the IJ due to the construction of the train track. The Catholic complex around the Posthoornkerk appeared. After WWII, revolutionary construction gave way on the old wood yards for a highway. On the remaining open part, the architect Herzberger built houses in the 1980s. The highway route will be redesigned in favor of cyclists.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups €17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

Next to monumental engineering sheds and even older warehouses, Oostenburg is home to brand-new modern town houses. The Eastern Islands were constructed in the 17th century as the largest industrial and shipbuilding area in the world. They lie under the smoke of Amsterdam’s city center. And are now being absorbed into the new era. Traces of the past inspire incorporation and reuse. That was not always the case, as on Kattenburg. Experience the stratification of centuries on each island. Why are the various personnel quarters on the Navy Yard strictly separated? For what reason is the Oosterkerk out of the building line and what did the layout of the Wittenburg shipyard island look like? Are there still traces of Amsterdam’s largest building that stood on Oostenburg?

Boat ride/ walking tour/ bike tour by appointment, duration boat ride: 1,5 hours, price from €450
Walking tour or bike tour duration 2 hrs, price € 17.50 (excl. bike) for groups from 8 persons, or as a private tour

Architectural cruise along the transformed (peninsula) islands of the Eastern Docklands: Java, KNSM, Borneo, Sporenburg and Cruquius. See and hear how this late 19th-century port area was transformed into a mixed living, working and entertainment area. As many old buildings as possible were preserved. Each subarea was given its own type of building. On Borneo and Sporenburg, for example, many ground-level houses and a self-build street appeared. These are interspersed with several large residential buildings. The recently completed Cruquius is an exciting experiment of the municipality of Amsterdam. Because unlike normal, the builders here were given only a few guidelines.

Walking tour or bicycle tour by appointment, duration 2 or 3 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p. excl. bicycle, price for private tour see Fees Private Tours

IJburg is a district of Amsterdam on artificial islands in the IJ Lake built from the year 2000. Here you will find a wide variety of housing projects such as quirky self-built houses, floating homes, housing group complexes, social housing and luxury villas. Recently the spectacular Sluishuis (lock house) adorns the entrance to the neighborhood. Shopping centers, schools, a harbor, a streetcar line to Amsterdam are among the amenities for a total of 40,000 future residents. IJburg is especially special because of its water-rich surroundings, a large park and connection to the countryside. The average income in IJburg is one of the highest in the Netherlands.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups €17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

In twenty years, the Zuidas (South axis)has developed into a high-end office and residential location. More residential buildings will be added in the coming years. The district on the most expensive piece of land in the Netherlands is characterized by luxurious, tall buildings. The international architecture is sometimes leading or high-profile, such as 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 not only trying to increase livability but also to attract the general public to the Zuidas with the establishment of a cultural institution of repute.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hours, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour. Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p., price for private tour see Fees Private Tours

See the former southern city gate,the Anthoniespoort, nowadays restaurant De Waag, around 1585. Within the wall medieval Amsterdam, outside an informal suburb: provisional accomodations, small shipyards and swamp. Cheap ground were also immigrants, Jews, Armenians and later Chinese settled. Deportation of the Jews led to pauperization of the neighbourhood. For the city government a reason to launch its metro and highway plans according the dominant ideology of city making. Inhabitants battled these plans against the armed police in the 1975 Nieuwmarkt riots. What came out? As a local resident I investigated the old structures and the realized renewal plans. The Nieuwmarkt city renewal is to become an area of 1980’s culturel heritge.

Walking tour or bicycle tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups €17,50 p.p. excl. bicycle, price private tour see Fees Private Tours

The polder Watergraafsmeer was a seventeenth century landinvestment project by some rich Amsterdam private persons. It was used as farmer land and as cottage house location of the well to do. Only house Frankendael witnesses this former function. After the annexation by Amsterdam in 1921 Watergraafsmeer slowly got builded. Like the beautiful Linnaeushof and Betondorp: the first a brick court for catholics, the second an experimental concrete garden village with a socialistic population. Betondorp was birth ground of soccer player Johan Cruijff. The numerous play grounds, and the monumental cemetery Nieuwe Oosterbegraafplaats contribute to the special world of the Watergraafsmeer: still rural and in meantime very modern with the recent Science Centre with modern architecture in the east.

Walking or bicycle tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 12,50 p.p. excl. bicycle, for private tour see Fees Private Tours

Buitenveldert has got extraordinary Amsterdam boulevards with the airs of Berlin or Paris. The designer of the Amsterdam extension plan of 1934 and the Buitenveldert plan, the internationally famous Van Eesteren, lived here himself. See the tight stamped buildings, the early high-rise next to a luxurous bungalow neighbourhood and espacially the fantastic, connected and big scale greenery in and by the quarter.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hrs, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour
Price for groups from € 17,50 p.p., for price private tour see Fees Private Tours

Functionalism in its most advanced form and most largest scale in Holland, realised in the 1970-80’s: flats in honeycomb structures surrounded by lots of green, raised roads and a metro viaduct. Inhabitants facilities as a photography pavilion and a coffee bar in the flat reflect the ideals from the sixties and seventies. This supernatural landscape is in the 1990’s demolished for the half and replaced by low raise. We’ll have a look at the old and the new and see if things are improved. Startingpoint metrostation Ganzenhoef, end at station Bijmer Arena

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hours, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour. Price for groups from € 22,50 p.p., price for private tour see Fees Private Tours

Eperience the unique architecture of downtown Rotterdam: a mix of modernist reconstruction architecture, New Dowdyness by Piet Blom and his cube houses, supermodernism by OMA and contemporary work by MVRDV and others. During the walk, the few remaining historic buildings and old harbors tell the story of Rotterdam and its wartime past.

Walking tour by appointment, duration 2 hours, for groups from 8 persons or as a private tour. Price for groups from € 22,50 p.p., price for private tour see Fees Private Tours

The centuries-old city of The Hague is the center of Dutch political power, of royalty and of (international) diplomacy. On higher sand deposited by the sea lies the 13th-century Binnenhof, scene of intrigue and power. The Binnenhof is surrounded by gardens, a hunting forest and by city palaces on a grand square filled with rows of thick lime trees. A stone’s throw away, on low peat soil, is the village of the serving people: narrow alleys around an old city hall and a church. The multifaceted walk also passes nearby modernizations and extensions such as the 19th century Passage, Richard Meyer’s City Hall, Rem Koolhaas’ underground streetcar passage, Krier’s The Residence and the cultural building Amare by Jo Coenen and others.