de WINDKETEL
The Neighborhood
De Windketel stands in the middle of the Watertorenplein next to a giant white water tower that is still in operation. The house is a national monument and was once owned by the municipal water company Amsterdam. The drinking water that was stored in reservoirs on site was transported via the machine pump building (the current café-restaurant Amsterdam), then pumped into the city, passing the wind boiler house in the process. In the house, there was a huge copper boiler or expansion vessel. This ensured that the pressure in the pipes remained at the same level.
In 1994, the Municipal Waterworks left and the site became a car-free residential area with 600 new homes, officially the first eco-neighborhood of the Netherlands. The homes are built with sustainable materials and have low energy consumption. Since 2020, the homes have been 'gasless' and connected to a heat network. Rainwater is drained in the neighborhood to the Waterleliegracht, a newly dug canal on the south side of café-restaurant Amsterdam. Here you can sit outside next to the canal in the summer. The inner courtyard is car-free and was designed by the world-famous landscape architect Adriaan Geuze with romantic hedges and dozens of utility gardens.
The Windketel is located next to the Westerpark, a hotspot for students and creative minds. The remaining historic buildings in the park were renovated around 2000 and given a cultural purpose.
With numerous festivals, markets, restaurants, cafes, dance venues, TV studios, a cinema and theaters, the Amsterdam International Fashion Week and the Holland Festival, there is always more than enough to do here.
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