WE ARE HERE

AND UNITED PAINTING JOIN FORCES TO PAINT GREY OFFICE BUILDING THAT SERVES AS A TEMPORARY SHELTER FOR DISPLACED PEOPLE

The Vluchtmaat was a grey, boring office building in the south-east of Amsterdam, which accommodates a lively community of 40 Ethiopians and Eritreans. A group organised by the Wij Zijn Hier (We are Here) initiative based in Amsterdam. They support undocumented refugees in finding squated accommodation throughout the city. The Vluchtmaat is unique as they share the property with a handful of local Dutch entrepreneurs who rent an office on the ground floor of the building, which pays for the expenses costs of the entire building.

The design process started with a creative workshop in which we explored various colours and patterns that they collectively liked. What was fascinating was almost all of them came up with a design that included a combination of the colours in the Dutch flag, Eritrean flag and Ethiopian flag. This colour combination acknowledged their past, who they were and where they were from, and their future, what they hope to become, a Dutch citizen. After we settled on the design we started painting the building together with the help of the residents and supplies of the neighbouring hardware stores.

UPDATE: The building has just recently been torn down and the people connected to We Are Here are still roaming through Amsterdam looking for a more permanent shelter. If you want to help them out, please contact @weareherenl through Instagram.

Sam Godfried, rented a workspace in the building: “The residents were tired of staring at the grey building so they asked United Painting to join forces with them to paint the outside.”