De Pijp

The station is named after the De Pijp neighbourhood, where it lies beneath the Ferdinand Bolstraat. Until March 2012 its working name was Ceintuurbaan.

Two platforms stacked under the Ferdinand Bol

The Ferdinand Bolstraat is too narrow to lay two metro tunnels side by side without demolishing houses, and demolition was ruled out in principle. The solution: stack the tracks. De Pijp station therefore has two platforms on different levels. Northbound trains leave from 16.5 metres down, southbound from 26.5 metres. According to Wikipedia that makes it the deepest station on the North/South Line and in the Netherlands.

Each platform is 125 metres long but only 3 metres wide at its narrowest point. There are ten escalators, five per platform. The entrances are at the Albert Cuypstraat and the Ceintuurbaan, on the ground floors of two new corner buildings. Architect Jan Benthem later recalled that the city rejected his first designs for those buildings as too modern. Only years later did his firm find a developer, the buildings went up after all and the street became car-free.

On the mezzanine wall, Argentinian artist Amalia Pica painted a multicoloured work along its full length, Sipping Colors.