Gouden Leeuw

This article is part of the Hidden Architecture Series “Tentative d’Épuisement” , where we explore the practice of an architectural criticism without rhetoric and based mainly on the physical experience of the work itself. Este artículo forma parte de la serie “Tentativa de Agotamiento” , comisariada por Hidden Architecture, donde exploramos la práctica de una crítica arquitectónica ausente de retórica y fundamentada sobre todo en la experiencia física de la propia obra. MEMORIES OF 2014 | MEMORIAS DE 2014 After leaving the office in Stadhouderskade Street, in front of the Netherlands Bank, I traveled by bike for 40 minutes until I got home. First, I biked next to the Amstel River. Once I arrived at the prison, I turned left and took the lane that ran parallel to the canal to Venserpark. I crossed this park and entered to Amsterdam-Zuidoost under the train station of Diemen Zuid. The last part consisted of going through the housing projects of this part of the city. I was mainly interested in Biljemener. The entire housing area was renovated after the airplane accident of 1992. It currently has an ambiguous condition that fluctuates between the silence of the enormous courtyards and the noise and ethnic and cultural mi of the urban periphery: small shops and supermarkets intermingle with bars full of people and groups of immigrants in the square that sits in front of the subway. Finally, I arrived to the Gouden Leeuw housing complex. There was a total of 18 buildings organically located in two rows on a large site that was partially covered by trees and grass. I could border one of these rows of towers on the north face until I got to the bike parking of my building, or going through – walking or biking – the interior gallery that connected all the towers. I usually took the first option during the summer days when I wanted to enjoy the last ray of sunshine.