April 18, 2018

3D-printed bridge for Amsterdam takes shape

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 5:53 pm

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Back in 2015 we told you about Amsterdam getting a 3D-printed steel bridge, and apparently printing the structure is now finished. The 12-metre-long bridge will eventually cross a canal on the Oudezijds Achterburgwal in Amsterdam’s Red Light district and you bet we’ll check it out once it’s installed.

MX3D aims to have finished the printing, placing the deck and coating the bridge by October 2018 in time for Dutch Design Week. In the mean time, you could sneak a peak at their workshop in Amsterdam North at the NDSM wharf if you’re in the neighbourhood.

(Link and photo: dezeen.com)

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November 24, 2009

A canal of whores at the London Gallery

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 6:16 pm

The Hoerengracht (literally ‘whore canal’) is the clever name of an exhibition by Americans Ed and Nancy Kienholz currently at the National Gallery in London featuring ‘an artistic re-creation of Amsterdam’s red light district’.

Althought the play on words is excellent, this sentence, however, is rubbish: “The Herengracht, or Gentlemen’s Canal, is home to Amsterdam’s prostitutes, who famously sit in windows to ply their trade.”

The Herengracht has beautiful houses, lawyers, offices, a few nice restaurants, but no whores. The nearest girls are on the Spui, roughly two streets down. So much for fact checking.

Someone on television said this exhibition would come to Amsterdam, and I wonder why anyone would bother looking at some artsy-farty rendering of the real thing when we can go, see and even experience the real thing. I could be missing the point, who knows.

(Link: independent.co.uk, Photo is Red Light District of The Hague)

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December 8, 2008

Peep shows are cultural events claims tax office

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 12:11 pm

Peep shows where men and couples pay by the minute to sit and watch women (no men or couples?) perform sex acts behind a glass are taxed with the lower VAT rate (Value Added Tax) of 6% instead of the higher rate of 19%, being considered ‘cultural’.

The original case was brought by a sex club owner who argued the shows were similar to theatre because they were attended by paying customers. If you follow the link below, you can see two men getting ready to go at instead of women behind a glass. Casa Rosso is also the place to be in the red light district if you’re going to see something like this apparently. I just happened to like this picture of the Moulin Rouge – not the French version.

Going off on a tangent: a female acquaintance of mine back in Montreal, Canada, working on a university paper about prostitution was thrown out of a peep show place because she was female. Any woman entering the place was a possible prostitute and so even though it is against the law to refuse entry to women, they did so. I wonder if it’s still like that today.

(Link: nrc.nl, Photo of Red Light District in The Hague)

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December 20, 2007

No condom shaped lights for the Warmoesstraat

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 6:21 pm

The Warmoesstraat is one of the oldest streets of Amsterdam and the gateway to the famous Red Light District. The street’s business association wanted to see the wares it sells reflected in its seasonal lighting, and therefore ordered the manufacturing of lights in the shape of condoms, handcuffs, magic mushrooms and so on. But it wasn’t to be: due to a construction error the light that would have been revealed tomorrow turned out to be too heavy to be hung.

The lighting idea was the result of a competition held by the business association and won by Toko 73 and Coolpuk, who also came up with a new logo. I also liked the idea of Carmela Bogman to use LED lights to create an understated, moon-shaped display that would bring visitors back to a darker bygone era, thereby underlining the age of the street—although the actual designs were a bit “Ot en Sien” (tacky).

Illustration by Toko 73 and Coolpuk.

Via Dutchnews.nl.

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March 29, 2007

Open house at the Red Light District

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 5:23 pm
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Amsterdam is famous for its wonderful canals, the Van Gogh museum, the flower market, the … ah, who are we kidding, when you go to Amsterdam, you visit the Red Light District. If you have been to the Red Light District before, but shyness or prudishness, or even plain old out-of-pocketness have stopped you from availing yourself of the services of a prostitute, or from watching an erotic show, now’s your chance to look behind the famous red-lit windows. On Saturday March 31 from noon to 6 p.m., the Prostitutie Informatie Centrum will hold an open house (Dutch) at the Red Light District. You’ll be able to visit prostitutes’ rooms, a sex theatre, and even (children, cover your eyes) the Salvation Army.

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