The Floating Mill
Amsterdam’s tourism industry has been booming over the past decade. According to the Service Research and Statistics Bureau, the Netherlands version of the Census Bureau, Amsterdam has been receiving more than 3.66 million international visitors annually.
While strolling through the streets of Amsterdam regularly, where I was living at the time, I noticed that the large groups of Asian tourist are hard to miss. Everywhere you go in Amsterdam you will find large groups of Asian tourists strolling along the streets, taking pictures of the local architecture and trying the local cuisine.
I have always been interested in Asian culture, and the Asian tourists in Amsterdam were smitten with Dutch culture. I wanted to create something for the Asian tourist in Amsterdam that would feel familiar but at the same time present them with the many elements of Dutch culture.
One of the first things I came across, while researching Asian tourists in Amsterdam, is that more often than not they couldn’t comprehend the fact that the majority of Amsterdam was below sea level. Somehow they didn’t feel save. In order to create a space that Asian tourists would feel safe in Amsterdam I would have to create something that would be safe on water. That is just what I did.
I created a floating tourism experience. Influenced esthetically by Asian Architecture and combined with Dutch elements. A place where Asian tourists could enjoy Dutch cuisine in a restaurant that serves typical Dutch delicatessens. At that same floating venue they can buy typical Dutch souvenirs like porcelain figurines made in Delft, a small Dutch city known for its Porcelain. That same venue would also allow them to watch and purchase documentaries about Dutch culture.
And for obvious reasons I called it, The Mill.
