Slider Creative Factories

Handbook for the creative industry man: Low-profile and efficient Amsterdam

No more, no less than an entire weekend, I wandered through the hippest places in Amsterdam looking for older or newer industrial areas that have been temporarily converted to accommodate creative projects. My aim was to discover what makes them work ‘over there’ and not yet here, and how come no one takes full advantage of the large scale industrial areas in Bucharest. Amsterdam is abounds of industrial areas of all sorts, from the more red brick shed roofed picturesque ones to those dating from the 70-90’s, built with concrete prefabricated, industrialized components, much resembling the ones from our socialist era.

Klokgebouw Strijp S, Eindhoven
‘Try to be different’

Strijp S, the former Philips factories, plays an important role in the history of Eindhoven. In the early 20th century, the city was still rather a collection of villages, transformed by Philips from the 1920’s into an industrial area. Daily, more than twelve thousand workers passed the entrance gate at Strijp S. For years the area was closed to the public and fenced off. Nowadays, the monumental buildings at Strijp S are the motor behind the transformation of the area into a creative brainport with metropolitan allure, a place where people can live, work, go to school and entertain themselves.

Culture park as global village.Westergasfabriek , Amsterdam

Text/Photo: Vera Cerutti

The Westergasfabriek, a former gas factory in the western part of Amsterdam was converted into a Culture Park, a combination of a multi-functional park, cultural activities and creative industries. Due to the fact that it functions as a neighborhood park but is also known for its ambitious international programming, it is among the most inspiring examples of successful transformation of industrial heritage; in 2010 it received the Europa Nostra Award, European Union’s prize for cultural heritage.