
The imaginatively retro-fitted houseboats that make up the creative quarter are all placed around a winding bamboo walkway and the surrounding landscape consists of plants that clean the soil. Most of the work was, and still is, done by the tenants who are relatively free to transform the boats into their own perfect work environment. It very much feels like a playground for grown-ups — a sustainable playground, that is! The boats will be able to leave the site after ten years without much of a trace, leaving the land more valuable, biodiverse, and cleaner from pollutants.
Apart from the houseboats, the site also includes a public restaurant made from 150-years old bollards. The roof of the restaurant will become a garden that produces ingredients that make up the super-local and always vegetarian menu. To top it all off, there are plans to transform the old dock, only a few meters in the adjacent water, into a boat & breakfast. Not only will this place provide a unique place to spend the night, it also boasts the option to link your own boat and rent it out Airbnb-style. A playground is never truly finished!
This summer Samsung and Pop-Up City are exploring urban creativity in the Netherlands through a series of photo reports made by readers with the new Samsung Galaxy Tab S.
In collaboration with Unlocked, we explore the future of hybrid space and how the cultural sector and events industry can reap the benefits of this new urban frontier in the post-COVID city.
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