Amsterdam, Zaandam

Every Amsterdam visitor will soon be amazed at what they see. Indeed, the Golden Age, roughly the 17th century, has undeniably left its imprint on the city’s architecture. A fine example is the Maritime Museum (“Scheepvaartmuseum”), designed by Stalpaert in 1656, to serve as a warehouse for the Admiralty. When the museum was overhauled at the beginning of this century, DOK architect Van der Pol added glass and metal to underline the building’s toughness. This route will not take you all the way into the city centre. Instead, we will guide you along some of the other architectural highlights. What would you say of the 70 traditional style houses stacked on top of each other to create a hotel building, courtesy of WAM architects? Or Eye, the film museum, the structure of which was conceived by the Vienna-based Delugan Meissl Associated Architects? Indeed, we must not skip Amsterdam’s Central Station, a collaboration by Cuyers and Van Gendt. Alberts and Van Huut designed the extraordinary NEMO building. However, no tour to see Amsterdam’s architectural finest is complete without paying attention to the Amsterdam School. And this takes us cycling to Het Schip (“the Ship”) Museum, designed by De Klerk architects.