Skateparks under the magnifying glass | NOORD Amsterdam

In the summer, our crew took a closer look at some new outdoor concrete parks. Fitting to the colder season we’re currently in, skaters in our region are often confined to a few indoor parks. Little has changed in this respect within Germany in the last few years. Of course, the amount of indoor parks could be much worse. It’s crazy to think that in the nineties, German skaters really only had indoor parks in Mönchengladbach, Münster, and Hamburg. Luckily, we now have several indoor parks spread around but we could certainly use some more! Especially parks where we don’t have to share the park with BMXers, scooters, and inline skaters. These groups certainly contribute greatly to the financial survival of many parks, but this brings along two hugely negative factors for skateboarders.

“To me, Amsterdam NOORD is definitely the best skatepark in Europe. It’s super clean, run by great people and Amsterdam is always worth a trip!” - Hendrik Kaczmarek

Skateboarding alongside scooters and bikes just doesn’t work very well. Kids on scooters very rarely understand the general “flow” of the skatepark, leading them to often stand in simply dangerous places or ride obstacles differently than they were intended. BMX riders usually understand this flow better, but they simply use a skatepark much differently than skaters. The greatest problem with this being that a skater-BMX collision is almost always very painful for at least one of the people involved. Inline skaters also use a park much differently but lately they have not been quite as prevalent in the scene.

“The NOORD park is simply like a beautiful dream, there are even hydraulically adjustable ledges. A must for every Amsterdam visit!”  - Martin Huppertz

The second negative factor of a “shared” skate-BMX-scooter park is simply the design of the park. A park to accommodate these groups generally means huge quarter pipes, spines, or big kicker ramps for riders to fly out of. Even if the park was designed by skaters, the general response from the park designers and operators is, “yes, but we have to build something where everyone can have fun”. The result is that it’s terribly rare to find a truly skateboarding-oriented park in our latitudes. One of the only examples of a true skateboard park in our region is the Shelter in Berlin. Luckily, there are enough skateboarders in Berlin to keep the park alive financially.

The “real street” feel has been perfectly achieved down to the last detail here in Amsterdam. For example, the trash can found in the park is absolutely identical to the iconic cans found in Philly’s LOVE Park. The ledges and curbs are made from exactly the same material as the famous ledges at MACBA in Barcelona. The white handrail/ledge with the columns is a replica of the Synagogue rail in Miami. The banks that Mika does a Fs Boneless on are modeled after the “Gorge de Loup” banks in Lyon. Even the red curbs are the same as those found in LA. The smallest attention to detail was made in the skatepark NOORD design, leaving absolutely nothing to be desired for a true street skater!

The NOORD park offers a very nice café and a decent bar on site. Here, you will find beer on tap as well as a variety of café snacks. It’s also very cool that you can watch the park from a seating area behind glass. If you’re looking for something more to eat, there’s a Jumbo supermarket just a few hundred meters down Gedempt Hamerkanaal. You can even get a freshly prepared meal at small "stands" in the supermarket such as pizza and sushi; all at a very moderate price. You can then eat in an adjoined dining area. We had never seen such a set-up before and our whole group thought it was really nice!