The Promised Square
2025 - 2027 - in progress
In September 1970, Buikslotermeerplein shopping center (also known as Boven ’t Y) opened in Amsterdam North. At the time, the director of the HEMA store described it as “the most beautiful shopping centre in the Netherlands.”
For the past five years I do my grocery shopping here almost every day. As a photographer focusing on documentary work and urban transformation, the place has fascinated me from the beginning. The architecture, the elevated and somewhat decaying parking deck, and the surrounding public space all carry the traces of several decades of urban development.
Buikslotermeerplein now stands on the verge of a major redevelopment. From 2027 onwards, the existing shopping centre will make way for a new urban centre with high-rise buildings. It is a controversial place with roots in the 1970s and 1980s: rough, dated, yet at the same time a lively meeting place with a strong social function for Amsterdam North and far beyond. In this project, I document the identity of the square just before this transformation takes place.
“Buikslotermeerplein is heartbreakingly beautiful. In fact, you hardly need to go anywhere else. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the saddest shopping centre in Amsterdam — perhaps in the whole of the Netherlands.”
— Mark van Wonderen, quoted in Het Parool, 20 January 2020
The redevelopment was already planned years ago, and residents of the North have long accepted that the shopping centre will never win any beauty contests. Yet it remains a familiar place for many, and there are concerns about the urban renewal that could alter the social dynamics of the neighbourhood. This is one of the main reasons why I feel it is important to document the square as it still exists today.
