Long ago, this area was all water. The NDSM story began in the nineteenth century with land that was sprayed in the IJ. For a century, ships were built here, at the largest shipyard in Amsterdam. Whole neighborhoods in North Amsterdam, including Tuindorp Oostzaan, were built to house the wharf employees. The district is closely interwoven with the industry. The Nederlandse Droogdok en Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (Dutch Dock and Shipbuilding Company) went bankrupt in 1984 after a restart as NSM. In the nineties artists, squatters and skaters filed a plan to temporarily fill the gigantic void area. The Kunststad was born, the largest breeding place in the Netherlands. Then came special restaurants and cafes Small and larger companies. NDSM was ‘hip’. Today, together with the South Axis and the town center, NDSM is one of the three most wanted development areas of Amsterdam. The story continues. NDSM is a workplace. It has been and it will be. It’s an area where people are ‘creating’: the artists in the Kunststad, the HEMA with its typically Dutch products, numerous large and small creative businesses. An NDSM initiative will bring stuff forward. It will seduce you. It has a twist, it is unique and out of the box. It operates at the intersection of art, new technology and sustainability. NDSM inspires, not only through its raw industrial character, but also because there is something in the air. Everyone feels it. Creativity. Positivity. An experimental, entrepreneurial spirit. The panoramic view creates space. Space where everyone can let ideas flow freely. Dividing lines blur: between live and work, between culture and commerce, between water and land, between old and new. Therefore NDSM is a place and a community that invites and inspires, not only the north part of Amsterdam, but the entire city.
