Kraaiennest

The station is named after the Kraaiennest neighbourhood in the Bijlmermeer. The origin of that name could not be confirmed in a source.

A steel lantern for the Bijlmer

For years Kraaiennest was a typical slab of Bijlmer concrete: platforms some 11 metres above the street, reachable only by spiral staircases. The station was part of the first metro line in 1977.

That changed when the British-Dutch practice Maccreanor Lavington won a design competition. Work began in 2010 and the new station was finished in 2014, at a cost of about 14 million euros. Escalators were added, along with a new entrance facing the street. The lower walls are made of stainless steel panels with a laser-cut pattern. By day daylight filters through; at night the light shines out, so the station stands in the neighbourhood like a lantern.

The pattern is adapted from a motif on a chateau gate, with influences from French baroque and echoes of Islamic decorative screens. It deliberately avoids any single cultural reference, as the neighbourhood is too diverse for that. The design was shortlisted for a RIBA award and featured in international architecture magazines. According to the architects, more than 100,000 residents use the station.