“Queen Maxima regularly displays the red light district for foreign guests”

The red light district is not an unfamiliar area for Queen Maxima. I told this during a conversation with the Entrepreneurs Association after I opened the 3D-printed bridge in Stoofsteeg.

On This is the opening I spoke in a café in Oudezijds Achterburgwal about the bridge and the neighbourhood. “Then she said, ‘I come here often,'” says Kaur van Dyck of BIZ Burgwallen Business Association. “If we have foreign guests, we show this neighborhood as well. Because this neighborhood is unique and belongs to Amsterdam. We like to show our visitors what this neighborhood looks like.”

Van Dyck, who previously critical message Emailed to the municipality about the lack of a bridge, very happy with this design. “Perhaps the most beautiful bridge in the city is now in the most beautiful neighborhood in the city.” Some locals are less enthusiastic. “It’s not a very nice bridge, but we were happy for a long time that we could cross it again.”

The bridge was delayed for a long time because, among other things, the pier walls turned out to be in poor condition. After work, the 3D print can still be placed. The stainless steel bridge isn’t cheap, but it was largely paid for by the company that designed it. It is a temporary bridge, which will be replaced after about two years with the original bridge that was restored at that time.

This technique can be used more often. “The advantage of this technology is that now that we can do that, we can print another bridge relatively cost-effectively.”