In 2008 I did a six-month internship at Rietveld Architects in New York City. Rietveld Architects is a company founded by Margaret and Rijk Rietveld. The New York office is located on a convenient 600 meters walk from Times Square.

I rented an apartment in Lower Manhattan, between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge. This resulted in a 30 minute travel from my apartment to the office, which I preferred to do by bike. During the course of my internship I biked on every avenue and almost every street of Manhattan.

Together with Rijk (leading architect) I worked on the many Dutch projects. These include City Hall The Hague, a conference hotel and an urban planning project.

Besides working at the architecture firm I experienced New York City, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington DC. I’ve put together a selection of (random) photos I made during my stay in the Big Apple.

The Office

You guessed it! The red arrow points to the office of Rietveld Architects.

The Film Center Building. The office is on the top floor.

I’m in the middle-right of this photo (next to the window)

New York City

Free kayaking in the Hudson River. You can see the Statue of Liberty in the middle.

View from the Staten Island Ferry.

View from the Empire State Building.

View from the Empire State Building.

The office of Rietveld Architects was located on a mere 600 meters walk from Times Square.

Wall Street.

The shiny towers of the Time Warner Center.

One of my favorite skyscrapers in New York, the Hearst Tower.

The Brooklyn Bridge (can you see the waterfall?)

The world famous Guggenheim Museum

The Flatiron building during sunset.

View from the Brooklyn Boulevard.

Tribute in Light, an art installation of 88 searchlights placed next to the site of the World Trade Center to create two vertical columns of light in remembrance of the September 11 attacks.

Lady Liberty

I went to the US Open quarter finals.

View from Jazz @ Time Warner Center during the New York Marathon.

More sports. Basketball, the NY Knicks.

And even more sports. A rodeo in Madison Square Garden.

Ground Zero and the World Financial Center.

One out of many times I visited Central Park.

New York Water Taxi in front of the NY skyline.

Reenactment at Governors Island.

Admiral’s house at Governors Island.

The Queen Mary 2 viewed from Governors Island.

My view from the office of Rietveld Architects on Veteran’s Day 2008. President George W. Bush visited the Intrepid on this day (you can see Marine One, the President’s helicopter, on deck).

Election Day 2008.

Before going to Harlem, I spent some time at Rockefeller Center.

Afterwards I went to an Obama campaign office in Harlem, NY.

I was in Harlem (125th street, opposite of the Bill Clinton office) when Barack Obama was elected president. A very special moment.

Winter in Central Park.

Winter Garden at the World Financial Center.

Manhattan during sunset.

Philadelphia

During my stay in New York City I visited several other cities, like Philadelphia and Boston.

Boston

Washington DC: The Inauguration of Barack Obama

During my internship Barack Obama and John McCain were all over the news. Since I’m really interested in American Politics, I consider myself lucky doing an internship in the US during the elections of 2008.

Wether Obama or McCain would win, I wanted to go to the nation’s capital for the Inauguration in January 2009. That’s why I booked my hostel prior to election day (in September). On a side note, this saved me lots of money, since I payed normal fees instead of the ridiculous fees hotels charged in and around Washington DC after Obama was elected. Obviously, I didn’t anticipate for such a historic election and Inauguration. Needless to say, I had a great time in DC.