Cool Design: Amsterdam’s Cuyperspassage

WORDS Lindi Brownell Meiring IMAGES Jannes Linders

If you’re walking from Amsterdam’s Central Station to the IJ river, you’ll need to head through Cuyperspassage, a tunnel with a difference.

Collaboratively created by graphic designer Irma Boon and Benthem Crouwel Architects, the 110-metre-long tunnel boasts a mural of 80 000 traditional Delft blue tiles that runs the full length of the space.

The tunnel is divided into two parts, a pedestrian path and a cycle lane. “The cyclist or pedestrian leaves the old historic part of Amsterdam through Cuyperspassage and heads towards ‘new Amsterdam’ in the north, or vice versa,” explain the architects behind the project.

The mural is inspired by the tiles created by Cornelis Boumeester, whose original tile panels are now housed in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum. It took five years for Royal Tichelaar Makkum, the ceramic company commissioned to make the tiles for Cuyperspassage, to completely the 46 000 wall tiles and 33 000 floor tiles used in the space.

For more information about the project, visit benthemcrouwel.com.