The project Windows of Opportunity (WOO!) grew from a wish to respond quickly, cheaply and flexibly to the continuing rise of shop vacancy. Rather than intervening in the empty space itself, WOO! is directed to the shop window or storefront. WOO! adds a local functionality to the window by using it as a way-finding medium, pointing passersby to interesting but otherwise unnoticed destinations in the neighborhood.
In february 2015 the first WOO! opened in/on a large empty shop in metro station Waterlooplein. It reopened with a new design one year later, pointing metro travelers to local gems – architecture, artworks, natural oases, cultural programming and more – on walking distance from the station. Upon neighborhood research inquiring local residents and entrepeneurs, Placemakers collaborates with designers to translate the local qualities into a large artwork that is not only aesthetically pleasant, but most of all a platform for the locality. Rather than a boarded up shop, now 15.000 daily metro travellers see what’s on offer in the Waterlooplein area. See WOO! Windows of Opportunity Waterlooplein until October 2016 and keep an eye out for more WOO!’s !
Photography openings: Marlise Steeman
When: 2015 – 2016
Commissioner: GVB Amsterdam
Supported by: Central city administration
Collaboration partners: Ronald Boer & Studio Nieuwland, Hello Yellow Studio (Zsuzsanna Ilijin)
Where: Metrostation Waterlooplein