Along Amsterdam's Waterfront

In New York, it's Williamsburg and the Meatpacking District; in London and Barcelona it's the docklands. Everywhere you look, the light and space created for heavy industry are being repurposed for residential life and services: where once coffee was shipped, coffee is served. A two-decade makeover of the southern bank of Amsterdam's IJ inlet has seen disused shipping wharfs, dockside warehouses and industrial estates replaced by a new urban zone, nestled into the historic city center. Densely stacked apartment blocks, offices and businesses have been joined by cultural institutions, restaurants and schools, in a combination of new and old building stock. This architectural guide is the first full survey of development in areas historically connected with the harbor. Its texts on housing typologies, infrastructure, gentrification and recreation are accompanied by eight architectural routes documented in photographs, drawings and texts, which take in more than 200 projects.