Amsterdam and Rotterdam
During November 2015 I embarked upon a trip to the Dutch cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. During this trip l looked into not just the buildings of Holland and these two very contrasting cities, but also the inhabitants and their actions.
To experience these cities in a unique way myself and my two fellow architecture students took a football everywhere to see how total strangers can engage with us, and other strangers through football. The range of intrest varied from people returning a loose pass, those who just stopped to watched briefly, and those who took time out of their day to stop and join in with a kickabout in some of the city squares, adopted as football pitches.
We also looked at how the built enviroment can be reappropriated as spaces to practice specific football skills, such as controlling a ball dropped from a bridge or a gap in a structure which become a target for shooting practice.
This exercise proved to me the effect that football can have on people within a locality. It really is a global language.
These videos capture a kick about in Shouwburgplein, Rotterdam by West 8 architects. A couple of locals joined in to show off their skills outside the cinema. The public square became a football pitch. You can see it is infectious how people want to kick the ball when they see it.
