De Put – Opglabbeek, Belgium
“The Put is a bowl in Opglabbeek, Belgium. It was built by Concrete Dreams in … Keep reading
“The Put is a bowl in Opglabbeek, Belgium. It was built by Concrete Dreams in … Keep reading
On the 31st of October, Korner Skate Shop organized a skate party on Outside diy, the incredible park under the authoban in Arcozelo, northern Portugal.
I have my garden, I am manual worker, I understand approximately how to build a concrete bowl. I had to take the time needed, behind my straight face it is vital for me – a sort of question of life or death.
since the big wooden spine miniramp had to be torn down due to constant wear and tear over the years, the park definitely needed a lift up. So Michael was once more able to convince conservative politicians to spend money, this time on a concrete bowl and he raised some more dough from sponsors out of the skate scene as well to fill the last financial void …
After we had built a sweet kidney pool in the lovely seaside resort of Mers les Bains on the northern french Atlantic coast last year we were invited to come back this year for more. The plan was to extend the street area with some kind of pump track around the whole park and mixing some street obstacles in there and just try to open up as many lines as possible.
I hadn’t visited Mechelen since last May and in this time, Bruno and his Concrete Dreams crew have been using Mechelen as a testing ground for new techniques, obstacles and features that they can then implement in a variety of skateparks they’re building around Belgium. Therefore, Mechelen has a little bit of everything: a bowl, a concrete miniramp, ledges, pyramids, speed bumps, tables, corners, a loveseat, a tombstone door for the daredevils to attempt, and a skateable perimeter speed line that goes around the outside of about half the park.
When I arrived in Ayacucho, I was invited with Bruno (Concrete Dreams) and Benoit (BRUSK) to build a mini-ramp for Mama Alice, a dutch NGO which works with children and wanted an infrastructure for teenagers. I used to organize concrete skateparks workshops in Belgium, and we did the same here (http://www.brusk.be/home/spip.php?rubrique19). I met a girl and decided to come back and try to live my life here. It was four years ago now, my Peruvian child is two…
How can a Bowl be transformed from a certified piece of shit into a deep and sweet reason to visit Paris? Skater wise naturally you’d say that it is alway good to ride those smooth sidewalks they get here and to jam (sometime literally!) into the traffic of the big avenues. But after sometime you can be bored of some of the humans living in Paris… ego trip on any levels can be really disturbing for a good ride. And you suddenly realize that there is nearly no tranny in town, this fact finally leads you to leave town in search of a good pool to fill your addiction to adrenalin.
k in Oostende Belgium is located in the old Velodrome (bike course) next to the harbor, a few kilometers from the ocean. Built by Concrete Dreams. a Belgian skate park company started by Bruno, which is collaborative effort with Mike and other guys from Brusk Collective, locals in whatever city they’re building and assisted at times by Matt Grabowski from Minus Pools. The final product in Oostende came out super insane. The opening party had punk bands, DJs, graffiti “jams”, no real contest just people skateboarding, and a lot of spectators who it seemed were quite impressed with what Concrete Dreams had created for the city and visiting skateboarders. There’s not really much to say except another great skate park in Europe, BUILT BY SKATEBOARDERS.
Pudi lives in Southern Germany and makes pool coping for various concrete park and DIY projects around europe. Recently he got extra creative and made some “mosaique works” as a surprise gift for Bruno who was working on his new Concrete Project: CONCRETE DREAMS and building a new park in Oostende, Beligum.