A'DAM Lookout

A deck above the IJ

The A'DAM Lookout is the viewing deck on top of the A'DAM Tower, on the north bank of the IJ, straight across the water from Centraal Station. People come up for the view and for the swing. It hangs out over the edge of the roof, and you ride it with the city dropping away below your feet. It is said to be the highest swing in Europe.

You reach the deck by a lift lit in changing colours, which is a small show in itself. Then you step out about a hundred metres above the river.

The point of coming here is the change of angle. In the old centre you are inside the city, among the canals and gables. Here you stand outside it and see it all at once. The IJ is a working river, so ferries, cargo ships and cruise boats cross below you the whole time.

The easiest way over is the free ferry from behind Centraal. The crossing is short, and the tower is a walk of a few minutes from where you land. It is worth turning round on the water first and watching the skyline get smaller.

From Shell tower to lookout

The tower was not built for visitors. Arthur Staal designed it in 1966 for Royal Dutch Shell, which wanted a building for the management of its Amsterdam laboratory. The plot was small, so the building had to go up. It was called Overhoeks because the tower sits at a diagonal to the lower building beneath it, and the roof ornament was set at a diagonal too. In Dutch, that is "overhoeks".

The start was not smooth. The concrete poured for the foundation floor turned out to be poor, and in July 1967 the floor was blown up with dynamite and cast again. The tower was finished in 1971 and was known for decades as the Shell tower.

Shell left in 2009. The city had bought the site in 2003, and the new neighbourhood built on it took the name Overhoeks. The tower was rebuilt over two years and reopened on 14 May 2016 as the A'DAM Tower. The old gold-coloured glass facade was replaced. A mast was added, which brings the height to about 100 metres. Inside there are now offices, restaurants, a hotel, a nightclub in the basement and the Lookout on top. The name stands for Amsterdam Dance and Music, and it is also a short way of writing Amsterdam.

The ground below has an older story. The Gallows Field walk starts next door. For four centuries this bank was where Amsterdam displayed its executed dead. Almost nothing is left except the street names and one drawing by Rembrandt. It changes how the view feels to know that.

What to look for from the top

Start with Centraal Station, directly across the water, and let your eye run along the old harbour front. The domed Sint-Nicolaasbasiliek stands close to the station and is easy to find. Behind it the spires and towers show the shape of the medieval centre. The tower of the Oude Kerk is among them, if you know where to look.

Then turn to the other side. The river, the docks and the newer districts along the IJ spread out there. You can see how much of the city's growth has happened along the water. The boats that leave the canal ring for the IJ are easy to spot from here, as are the ferries going back and forth.

Pay attention to the light. On a clear day the flat land runs a long way in every direction. In the evening the lights come on one by one, and the water turns dark and shiny. The swing feels very different then than it does in the afternoon.

Look down at the foot of the tower as well. The long building next door was the Shell canteen, and the neighbourhood around it is new. From above you can see how the old industrial ground has been turned into streets and squares.