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The building has three entrances: one at each end and one in the middle. Twenty-foot- (six-meter-) wide ramps sloping at 3 degrees take bicyclists up the long stretches lined on both sides with perpendicular parking stalls. Red asphalt covers the ramps reminiscent of the red bicycle paths all over The Netherlands. Four staircases permit "short cuts" for speedier navigation.

To avoid contact with the quay, the building is supported by 13 double columns running through its center. The cantilever on the canal side is counterbalanced by the concrete ground floor on the land side.

The building expresses itself through detailing and material choices, but primarily by the sculptural form of the slopes. The lack of walls gives cyclists a full panorama of the surrounding historic city. The floor under the bike stalls slopes down slightly from the "roadway," drawing the cyclist's eye to the views to the outside.

Architectural writer Ton Verstegen has described this structure in Fresh Facts: The Best Buildings by Young Architects in the Netherlands. He notes: "Practicality, aesthetics, and spectacle are well matched and ensure that a daily recurring transaction that is usually accompanied by irritation and inconvenience is changed into a pleasant experience."

Verstegen continues: "It seems that in the case of the bicycle facility, the client was looking for a building that should not be there, given the requirement for temporariness, inexpensiveness, speed of construction, transparency, and avoiding nuisance. The designers have expressly made this 'I-shouldn't-be-here' a presence, so that in a short space of time it has earned its place and numbers among one of the most photographed buildings in Amsterdam."

The temporary bicycle shed by VMX Architects was one of five projects presented during the Venice Biennale for Architecture 2002 at the Dutch pavilion in the Giardini in Venice.

Without walls, the structure allows views out to historic Amsterdam. Photo: Luuk Kramer, Amsterdam Cross section through the ramps. Image: VMX Architects Parking ramps and shortcut stairs. Image: VMX Architects The structure overhangs the canal supported by 13 double columns running through its center. Photo: Luuk Kramer, Amsterdam   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.