It's usually standard practice to construct buildings vertically, but in Amsterdam-Noord the world of architecture has been turned upside down. With Het Kraanspoor architect Trude Hooykaas designed the largest, and possibly the most beautiful block of flats in the Netherlands. The narrow track of land where shipbuilding cranes once swayed back and forth has been transformed into a giant transparent building. The 270m-long horizontal structure is an impressive mixture of the old NDSM shipyard and a modern glass structure suspended above concrete pillars forgotten by time.