NDSM Wharf

The Nederlandsche Dok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij built ships on the north bank of the IJ until it went under in 1984, and the site stood derelict until squatters and artists moved into the vast shipbuilding hall in the 1990s. The city eventually formalised it, and the wharf is now a district: the Kunststad inside the main hall is a self-built city of studios stacked in scaffolding, there is a hotel in a converted crane, another crane holds a swimming pool and a room, the Botel is a moored ship, and the walls carry some of the largest murals in Europe, including a portrait of Anne Frank several storeys high on the side of a warehouse. Festivals, flea markets and club nights use the open ground. Development pressure is heavy and the balance between the original occupants and new building is a live argument in Amsterdam.

What you actually see

• A self-built studio city - Kunststad, stacked in scaffolding inside the shipbuilding hall.
• Very large murals - including a multi-storey Anne Frank on a warehouse wall.
• Converted cranes - a hotel room and a pool in the old shipyard machinery.
• A contested district - development pressure against the artists who made it.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Much of it is scruffy industrial ground, deliberately - people expecting a polished district are surprised. The ferry takes about fifteen minutes. Studios are working spaces, not open galleries. Events dominate summer weekends.

Nearby

Eye Film Museum is east along the north bank; Amsterdam centre is across the water.