Archinect - News

A 3D printed ceramic facade by Studio RAP in Amsterdam is inspired by weaving textiles

2023-12-04T11:54:00-05:00

Rotterdam-based Studio RAP has transformed a boutique facade in Amsterdam with 3D printed ceramic tiles. The Ceramic House sits along the city’s famous P.C. Hooftstraat shopping street, and according to the firm, “reshapes architectural expression by seamlessly blending tradition and innovation, reintroducing bespoke details to the realm of architecture.”

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

For the project’s design, the firm developed in-house algorithms to reinterpret the existing qualities and language of glazed ceramics in Amsterdam. The resulting facade features intricate layers inspired by textiles, including creases, interloping yarns, and stitch patterns.

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

“Its organic, wave-like quality changes as viewers approach the design from different angles,” the team explains. “Gradually, as the line of vision moves, new elements within the custom ceramic tiles are unveiled, resulting in a luxur...

UNStudio completes Booking.com City Campus HQ in Amsterdam

2023-06-28T14:39:00-04:00

A new HQ project from UNStudio for the Dutch travel site Booking.com has opened in Amsterdam, offering a dynamic central location it says will serve as a “recruitment machine” while creating a more inclusive, healthy, and socially engaging experience for the company’s 6,500 employees.

Video courtesy UNStudio on Vimeo.

Designed to maximize connectivity for its users and visitors to the campus’ Oosterdokseiland location, the nearly 700,000-square-foot plan creates a highly-visible, activities-laden consolidation of disparate office locations that, for over a decade, had been spread throughout the city.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

Anchored by a striking main building made of glass and steel and sited on a double-height plinth that creates an urban element underneath and around a cantilevered overhang, the development was influenced by years of research into comparable corporate headquarters and engenders a “platform for human activity,” the architects say.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

A network o...

De Zwarte Hond designs flexible timber office park in Amsterdam

2023-06-22T11:30:00-04:00

De Zwarte Hond has designed a timber office building for Dutch energy company Alliander. Located on the Noordzeeweg in Amsterdam Westpoort, the new offices are described as circular and flexible, consisting of workshops, warehouses, test facilities, and educational and park buildings.

Image: Jaques Tillmans Foto Focus / De Zwarte Hond

Sustainability guided the design of the roughly 226,042-square-foot complex, which resulted in high flexibility, scalability, and modularity. Materials such as wood were used as much as possible, and harmful substances like glue, PU foam or sealant were minimized. The parking building’s detached set-up allows it to grow or shrink. In addition, the structure’s façades are made of weather-resistant Corten steel.

Image: Scagliola Brakkee / De Zwarte Hond

The office is gas-free and energy neutral due to approximately 37 square feet of solar panels and thermal energy storage. Its use of timber allowed the project to store 560 tons of carbon dioxide. Much con...

MVRDV's new demountable science building has over 120,000 reusable components

2023-05-25T19:36:00-04:00

Construction of MVRDV’s Matrix ONE project, a laboratory and office building in the heart of Amsterdam Science Park, has been completed.

The six-story, 140,000-square-foot structure is the largest of seven buildings that now make up the Matrix Innovation Center, a site for scientists and entrepreneurs to develop sustainable solutions for current and future issues.

Image: MVRDV / © Daria Scagliola

As the main hub at the Center, Matrix ONE aims to be a guiding example to the other buildings at the Amsterdam Science Park. The building was made to be demountable, in which connections such as screws and bolts allow elements to be detached and reused. In addition, its floors are made using prefabricated concrete slabs with no fixed connections.

Image: MVRDV / © Daria Scagliola

The platform Madaster was used to provide a material passport system that registers all the materials and products incorporated in the building. It provides insight into the carbon dioxide storage for over 120,000 ...

OMA and Circlewood develop adaptable modular wood system to build schools in Amsterdam

2023-05-12T13:59:00-04:00

OMA, along with Circlewood, a coalition of architects, engineers, builders, and researchers, have developed a modular wood system to build a variety of schools in Amsterdam.

This project aims to support the city’s goal to halve the use of primary raw materials by 2030 and become fully circular by 2050. As part of this mission and the need to meet the increasing demand for schools, Amsterdam initiated the Innovation Partnership School Buildings program to build nine to thirty “high-quality, flexible, and sustainable” schools in ten years.

Image courtesy of OMA

Consisting of standardized wooden columns and cross-laminated wooden floor panels, the prefabricated system is connected by recycled steel joints. OMA explains, "All of the components are made in a factory under a digitally controlled process allowing for quick assembly and disassembly by an electric crane on site."

Photography by Arthur Wong for OMA.

They are arranged into 11.8-foot wide (2.6m), 23.6-foot long (7.2m), and up t...

In Amsterdam, a new residential development draws on canyons, forests, and beaches

2023-05-09T14:39:00-04:00

A team comprising Orange Architects, Felixx, Ballast Nedam West, and ABT has completed a mixed-use residential scheme in Amsterdam inspired by various natural forms. Titled Jonas and situated on the artificial island of Ijburg, the building is centered around a “concentration of special places” inspired by rocks, islands, forests, beaches, and canyons.

Image credit: Sebastian van Damme

At the front of the building, a landscape titled ‘The Rock’ is anchored by a large wooden sculpture that integrates a parking garage entrance. A multifunctional grandstand is created by sculptural terraces and wooden decks, while on summer days, the building’s interior and exterior merge by way of a large operable glass frontage.

Image credit: Sebastian van Damme

The patio of the building has been dubbed ‘The Forest,’ manifesting as a quiet, intimate space populated by large birch trees, ferns, moss, slate paths, and wooden benches. The s...

Studio Gang adds to Amsterdam's much-needed housing stock with its first-ever European project

2022-12-14T13:41:00-05:00

A new, two-tower mixed-use scheme from Studio Gang has been delivered in Amsterdam, representing a first for the firm on the continent as it looks to grow outside of the American market with recent expansions into Canada and now the EU.

The 297,170-square-foot Q Residences are meant to address the capital region’s considerable housing needs with a scheme that adds 248 total residences located in the center of Buitenveldert – one of the last “garden cities” constructed in Amsterdam following the conclusion of World War II.

Image © Kees Hummel via Studio Gang

Studio Gang says their design “brings a more organic, sculptural feel to the rational rectilinearity of the surrounding 1950s developments.” Its two volumes distribute the residential program into mid- and high-rise forms dubbed Qube and Quartz, respectively. A series of angled balconies are set at staggering depths and cascade down the taller structure in what the architects described as an origami-like pattern. The mid-rise Qub...

Food for thought on circular design and who should own the built environment

2022-10-11T12:43:00-04:00

Back in June, we covered news of research set to be undertaken at Penn State on the subject of embodied carbon in cities. The research, one of many stories this year focusing on embodied carbon, signals a growing awareness in academic and professional circles of the need to include whole-life perspectives on buildings when calculating their environmental impact: from conception and construction to demolition and reuse.

Given the sizeable 40% impact of the AEC sector on global carbon emissions, it is no surprise that conversations on embodied carbon, life-cycle analyses, and our attitude towards waste in buildings have also garnered mainstream attention.

This week, The New York Times published an article by freelance writer Jessica Camille Aguirre titled ‘How to Recycle a 14-Story Office Tower.’ While the title may evoke ideas of an IKEA-s...

Construction to begin on 'energy-positive' brick tower by Mecanoo in Amsterdam

2022-10-07T12:07:00-04:00

Mecanoo is moving ahead with a 28-story tower in north Amsterdam. The mixed-use residential and commercial tower, whose inception we covered in 2020, has been formally approved by city officials and will now move forward to construction later this month. Completion is expected in 2025.

Named the Brink Tower after the Dutch word for open green space, the scheme is imagined as a ‘visual and social link’ between two existing residential neighborhoods in north Amsterdam.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

The concept is defined by its rounded corners along the entirety of its 90-meter (295-foot) height. Clad in a warm red brick to reference the influential Amsterdam School of the 1920s, the tower’s 28 stories are interspersed on the façade by brick and concrete bands. Between the bands, each level benefits from full-height glazing broken by slender brick elements.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

When viewed from the north, the tower adopts a wide, robust form in response to neighboring towers in Amste...

Take a closer look at MVRDV's newly-opened Amsterdam 'Valley' towers

2022-09-20T13:24:00-04:00

After five years of construction, MVRDV’s highly-touted mixed-use Valley project has officially opened in Amsterdam.

Behind the under-construction Canyon, recently-completed Grotius Towers, and last year’s Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen project, the three-tower scheme represents one of the firm’s larger and more significant works of recent vintage.

Featuring a cantilevered series of terraces and vertical forests designed by Piet Oudolf, the 75,000-square-meter (807,000-square-foot) development is meant as a stimulus to the otherwise bland Zuidas business district and includes an open fourth and fifth floor Green Valley, boutique ground-level retail and cultural offerings, and a covered grotto that further connects the public to what founding partner Winy Maas called a “first step towards transforming this part of Amsterdam into a greener, denser, and more human city.”

A total of 271 young trees and 13,500 small local plants were...

BIG and Barcode complete cantilevering residential building on Amsterdam waterfront

2022-07-15T11:39:00-04:00

Work has been completed on Sluishuis, a residential project in Amsterdam by Bjarke Ingels Group and Barcode Architects. The scheme, which comprises 442 homes, a public green roof garden, and maritime jetties, is defined by a cantilevered form meeting at a high corner.

Photograph © Ossip van Duivenbode

The architects describe the project as a “remarkable building with a unique volume that seems to float on the water thanks to the double cantilever.” Towards the water, the building’s untreated aluminum facade rises to meet at the cantilever, creating a gateway to the inner harbor at the building’s core. On the opposite side, the stepped form contains a stairway to the rooftop garden and private residential terraces.

Photograph © Ossip van Duivenbode

The 442 energy-neutral homes, which vary between owner-occupied and rental units, are designed for a variety of income levels and age categories. Typologies include compact studios, water sports apartments, and duplex penthouses. The steppe...

Arup completes the Netherlands' tallest timber-hybrid residential building

2022-03-31T19:16:00-04:00

Arup has designed and engineered the Netherlands’ tallest timber-hybrid residential building.

Completed this year, HAUT is part of the country’s commitment to becoming climate-neutral by 2050, in which the use of timber as a building material has been identified as one of the most effective ways to accelerate decarbonization. As noted by Arup, in 2021, over 80 Dutch companies signed the Green Deal covenant Houtbouw of the Metropoolregio Amsterdam. With this, the nation's capital and most populous city is committing to the goal of building at least one in five buildings using primarily timber from 2025 onwards.

Previously on Archinect: Arup, TEAM V to build world's tallest timber residential building in Amsterdam

HAUT was conceived in 2016 with the aim of being of both sustainable and high architectural quality. Situated near the Amstel river, the structure is one of the tallest timber-hybrid buildings in the world, standing 21 floors tall at nearly 240 feet. It was also certified B...

MIT-designed self-driving Roboats make a splash in Amsterdam’s canals

2021-11-18T13:33:00-05:00

After six years of design and research at MIT, a pair of autonomous boats have been launched into the canals of Amsterdam. Roboat, a research project undertaken by the MIT Senseable City Lab and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), seeks to encourage a future where autonomous boats could help the city of Amsterdam move part of its road traffic to the water.

Image © MIT / AMS Institute

From November onwards, the two full-scale prototypes will be used for three use cases: passenger transport, logistics (waste collection), and data collection (surveying water infrastructure and monitoring water quality). The boats will operate with complete autonomy through the use of way-point finding, autonomous docking and undocking, and collision avoidance.

Image © MIT / AMS Institute

“Picture being amid the hustle and bustle on the Amsterdam canals,” explains Ynse Deinema, Roboat Project Lead at AMS Institute. “This urban context involves tight space maneu...

The full weight of history: Daniel Libeskind's brick memorial to Dutch Holocaust victims opens Sunday

2021-09-17T17:12:00-04:00

Daniel Libeskind will have the memory of an entire lost city on his mind at Sunday’s official unveiling ceremony of the National Holocaust Memorial of Names in Amsterdam.

“I grew up in Poland in Lodz, a city that had hundreds of thousands of Jews. There was nobody Jewish left. It taught that you should never give in to authoritarianism. You should never bow your head to fear,” the 74-year-old architect said in a recent interview about his forthcoming memorial for the victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018.

Image courtesy Studio Daniel Libeskind © Kees Hummel.

Libeskind took the memory of his birth city into his design for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, one of the architect’s first major commissions when it opened in 2001.

Image courtesy Studio Daniel Libeskind © Kees Hummel.

Now, 20 years later, Libeskind’s latest project pays tribute to the memory of the Dutch Jewish, Roma, and Sinti populations that fell victim to the Holocaust.

Image courtesy Studio Da...

OMA reveals Amsterdam office building with 'woven' brick façade

2021-08-24T14:41:00-04:00

OMA has released their design for the Apollolaan 171 high-end office building in Amsterdam. The scheme will be built on the site of a demolished JP Morgan bank built in the 1980s, whose foundations will be retained and reused for the new five-story building. In contrast to the former bank’s opaque façade, the new building will feature a terracing blend of glass and brick.

Image courtesy of OMA and Kroonenberg Groep

Addressing a corner site along a prominent green avenue, Apollolaan 171 features two prominent façades, each addressing different conditions. The façade facing the prominent avenue features interlocking glass volumes resembling a jigsaw puzzle, proportioned to match the scale of nearby buildings. The main entrance is placed on the corner linking the glass and brick façades, emphasized by both a gradual reduction in the building volumes and a ground floor setback, creating a public space along the avenue.

Image courtesy of OMA and Kroonenberg Groep

Meanwhile, the buildin...

World’s first 3D-printed steel footbridge installed in Amsterdam

2021-07-15T14:21:00-04:00

The world’s fist 3D-printed steel footbridge has been installed in Amsterdam. Created by Dutch company MX3D, the bridge measures 40 feet (12 meters) in length and contains 4.5 tons of stainless steel forming a curved, flowing structure.

The bridge, formed of four main pieces, is intended to be more than a purely functional piece of infrastructure but will also serve as an artistic celebration of the potential for 3D printing technology. The structure will also become a “living laboratory,” fitted with dozens of sensors. Over the next four years, researchers from Imperial College London will study data generated by the bridge, which they will use to monitor and measure the bridge’s performance in the real world.

Image: MX3D

The data collected from the bridge will allow researchers to monitor performance in real-time, analyze how its performance changes over its lifespan, and understand how the public interacts with 3D-printed infrastructure. Data will be fed into a “digital twin” o...

Grimshaw adds two new bridges in Amsterdam with an ecological design

2021-03-22T13:03:00-04:00

In 2001, Grimshaw Architects completed the Enneüs Heerma Bridge that connected the neighborhood of IJburg to Amsterdam. Twenty years later, the man-made archipelago of IJburg is about to receive two more bridges from the practice that will serve as a connection to Strandeiland, a future neighborhood of 8,000 dwellings and a beach stretching 750 meters.

View along the truss of the bridge © Grimshaw

Similar to the Enneüs Heerma Bridge, the two new bridges that are planned to span 60 meters and 90 meters will be held by continuous undulating steel trusses built on the theme of stones skipping over water. With the intention of the two new bridges being the main entry into Strandeiland, the arrival points were designed with two flexible use pavilions on the flanks of the bridges to offer space for commercial opportunities. To introduce light and the views of the water, voids were added on both the top and side of the central decks. The design of the pavilions was developed in collaboratio...

The Stories of Beth Haim Brought to Life by Kossmanndejong and Loerakker Olsson Architects

2021-03-18T19:16:00-04:00

Designed by Kossmanndejong and Loerakker Olsson Architects, Beth Haim—Hebrew for ‘House of Life’—is one of the oldest Sephardic cemeteries in the world. The cemetery serves as a testament to the Portuguese and Jewish community of Amsterdam, displaying graves from the 17th century and beyond.

The interior of Beth Haim, a tribute to ‘House of Life’ with its light space featuring a large skylight and reflective ivory-glazed tiles. The horizontal screen is made of an introduction film—a narrating window to the cemetery behind. Photo courtesy of Kossmanndejong.

Photo courtesy of Kossmanndejong.

Kossmanndejong and Loerakker Olsson Architects sought to translate the transient nature of the historic cemetery onto the materials used in the design. Featuring a façade embedded with broken masonry, delicate natural stone features, and weathered brass doors upon entrance, this sense of transience is completed with the roof construction of untreated solid oak and benches to match.

Beth Haim, pavili...

Take a look at LocHal Public Library, the 2019 World Building of the Year, and other World Architecture Festival winners

2019-12-06T19:44:00-05:00

And it's a wrap at the 2019 World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam. After three busy days of project presentations and jury deliberations, the annual global architecture industry event culminated in a glamorous gala dinner at the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam's former stock exchange building, where the winners of various category and other top awards were announced.

The biggest anticipation of the night, of course, was reserved for the 2019 World Building of the Year title which happened to stay within the Netherlands with the selection of LocHal Public Library in Tilburg and its design team Civic architects (lead architect), Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau, and Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse.

World Building of the Year 2019: LocHal Public Library, Tilburg, the Netherlands by Civic architects (lead architect), Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau, Inside Outside / Petra Blaisse © Ossip Architectuurfotografie

"LocHal was a former locomotive hangar dating from 1932, transformed into a...

OMA-designed nhow Amsterdam RAI Hotel tops out

2019-02-11T15:56:00-05:00

Construction on the future largest hotel in the Benelux just reached another milestone: the behemoth 25-floor, 650-room nhow Amsterdam RAI Hotel, designed by OMA/Reinier de Graaf, has reached its highest point of construction at a height of 91 meters (nearly 300 feet).

"The shape of the 91-metre building draws from the triangular advertising column on the Europaplein which was once so prominent on the site but now has been overtaken by the many office buildings that have been erected in its vicinity," explains the project description.

Photograph by Walter Herfst, Courtesy of OMA

The new gastronomy complex is located near the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center and connected via an underground concourse.

OMA won the architectural competition for the hotel in 2015 with Reinier de Graaf and Rem Koolhaas as partners-in-charge.

An Amsterdam office complex will soon be transformed into residences by MVRDV

2019-01-03T18:54:00-05:00

A master plan for a 17 acre parcel of land in Amsterdam has been recently unveiled by the Dutch firm MVRDV. Given the fact that "Amsterdam urgently needs housing in all sorts of sizes and price ranges, for both purchase and rental,” says Nathalie de Vries, co-founder of MVRDV, the project, titled Westerpark West, will transform what was once an office complex into a residential one.

"What was once a grey, isolated office location in Amsterdam-West will soon become a green, lively neighborhood of around 750 homes," according to the press release. "Placing an emphasis on green space and architectural diversity, the proposal for Westerpark West is a sustainable response to the ever-growing housing demand in Amsterdam."

In an effort to appeal to the principles of materials cycles and updated standards of sustainability, the master plan will update a number of the office buildings that have been on the site since the 1980s by t...

A cardboard bedroom making use of Amsterdam's residual space

2019-01-02T16:13:00-05:00

With the ‘Bedsteeg’ – a wordplay on the traditional Dutch sleeping accommodation ‘bedstede’ – Roegiers is now bringing attention to residual urban space that can be used to improve living conditions for the homeless. ‘It is about certain basic human needs that have to be met for a homeless person to become strong enough – both mentally and physically – to regain independence,’ he told local newspaper Het Parool.

As his graduation project for Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Patrick Roegiers created a simple cardboard house. Wedged between two existing buildings, covered in water-resistant coating and 3 meters high, the structure is meant to provide homeless people with a warm and dry place to sleep.

Since sleeping on the streets of Amsterdam is criminalized, the homeless population is often forced to move beyond the city's boarders. Through his project, Roegiers, hoped to give the unhoused an opportunity to safely stay in their neighborhoods while making use of Amsterdam's numerous and largely unused alleyways.

One of the challenges was convincing property owners to allow these makeshift bedrooms right next to their homes. Luckily, the neighbors were willing to cooperate, and after they granted permission, Roegiers tasked himself with finding a bedroom resident for every night of the week. If the prototype is successful, the idea might be picked up by existing homeless organizations.

WOHA's Kampung Admiralty is crowned World Architecture Festival Building of the Year for 2018

2018-11-30T19:31:00-05:00

Marking the end of the World Architecture Festival, the winner of the 2018 World Building of the Year was presented to Kampung Admiralty by WOHA Architects. Having also won the award for the Commercial Mixed - Completed Projects, the firm can now add this prestigious award to their repertoire of accolades.

World Building of the Year Winner: Kampung Admiralty in Singapore by WOHA Architects Image credit: Patrick Bingham-Hall, Darren Soh, Lim Weixiang

Known for their approach and passion in integrating social and environmental principles to their projects, Kampung Admiralty is a shining example of the firm's execution and methodology toward a high-density, high-amenity mini-city. Located in Northern Singapore, the building is comprised of community spaces, housing for the elderly, medical facilities, retail, restaurants, and cafes all shared within a single ventilated structure featuring a tropical rainforest roof.

World Building of the Year Winner: Kampung Admiralty in Singapore by ...

New European hyperloop proposed running from Amsterdam to Frankfurt

2018-09-14T13:07:00-04:00

The UNStudio Futures Team (UNSFutures) recently announced plans for a 'Station of the Future' at the first edition of HyperSummit. Organized by Hardt Hyperloop, the summit took place in Utrecht, Netherlands focusing on urgency, research, and collaboration to realize a European hyperloop.

The proposed hyperloop will run from Amsterdam to Frankfurt in 53 minutes. Using technology powered by solar panels, the hyperloop will produce no sound or environmental emissions and can provide the necessary energy to power itself.

The station has been envisioned as a series of tessellating components which can adapt to a range of possible contexts: city-centre, edge of city or adjoining an existing infrastructure hub, such as an airport.

MVRDV to masterplan new Hyde Park urban district near Amsterdam

2018-07-24T13:43:00-04:00

MVRDV's urban vision for the new Hyde Park district near Amsterdam has been given the green light by the municipality of Haarlemmermeer. Currently occupied by a desolate office park, the area will be transformed into a vibrant residential area with thousands of new dwellings and commercial facilities. The Dutch firm has recruited several architecture firms such as Barcode, Team V, MVSA, Manuelle Gautrand and Studio Nine Dots to aid in the development of blocks and public space design.

Each avenue will have its own character, while the main street will become a tree-lined commercial area promoting cycling, walking, and socializing. Residential buildings will all have sound-proof indoor gardens. Bites in the buildings will allow for maximum sunlight and park views, helping achieve a new green district for the city. Furthermore, for the sake of diversity, the blocks have been divided into various 'Hoofddorp houses'.

The masterplan contributes to upgrading the neighborhood into a future...

Amsterdam's Rooftop Festival shows off the boundless potential of the roofscape

2018-06-22T18:24:00-04:00

This evening, 20 rooftops across the city of Amsterdam have opened up their typically unused space in sky for a series of unique programming. Part of the city's Rooftop festival, these spaces will be hosting three-course dinners, live music, rollerskating, guided tours, and even a Symposium teaching participants how to maximize their rooftops, by making them greener and more accessible.

The event is being put on by ROEF Collective, an organization keen on celebrating the green possibilities of the urban rooftop landscape. Currently, only 2% of Amsterdam rooftops are in use. The five entrepreneurs behind the group are hoping to grow this number, with plans for 10% of rooftops in the city to be in use by 2025!

UNStudio's new tech start up, UNSense, launches with smart city and solar brick innovations

2018-03-14T19:50:00-04:00

UNSense, a new arch tech startup based in Amsterdam, is being launched by UNStudio. Operating as an independent sister company to UNStudio, the company will explore and develop new integrated tech solutions specifically designed for the built environment.

UNSense explores new technologies related to the built environment. Image: UNSense.

The new tech innovation boasts a wide range of collaboration with data analysts, algorithmists, neuroscientists, policy makers, students, municipalities, sociologists, economists, data architects, business case modellers, financial specialists, architects and more.

CitySense will collect data through sensory digital infrastructure. Image: UNSense.

Initial technology solutions include CitySense and Solar Brick. CitySense collects data through sensory digital infrastructure in order to design experiences improving life in the city. Trials are currently running in South East Amsterdam and a number of other Dutch cities.

Solar Brick allows for massive ...

The 'Tinder' for apartment swapping launches in the Netherlands

2018-01-23T15:06:00-05:00

Dutch social renters wanting to move to a new apartment can now use an app to swap houses with other renters. One precondition, both renters need to ‘like’ each other’s apartment to get a match. [...] Young renters with small apartments may swap with older residents who live in bigger apartments. In this way, the issue of scheefwonen (skew living — when people live in apartments that do not match their needs and desires) within the Dutch rental sector could be solved.

"After two apartments are matched, the users are introduced to each other, after which they have to find out if their rental agreements are compatible enough for the renters to swap house."

DeFlatKleiburg wins 2017 Mies van der Rohe Award, MSA/V+ named 2017 Emerging Architect recipient

2017-05-12T14:46:00-04:00

Two housing projects won big today in the 2017 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award competition. Out of five finalists, DeFlatKleiburg in Amsterdam by NL Architects and XVW architectuur won the main Mies van der Rohe Award. The 2017 Emerging Architect prize went to Brussels-based practice MSA/V+ for the NAVEZ social housing project.

DeFlatKleiburg is the first renovation project of an existing building to receive the main prize. The colossal megablock is 11 stories tall and 400 meters long, and comprises 500 customizable apartments. First built in the 1960s as part of city planner Siegfried Nassuth's masterplan, the Kleiburg eventually became dilapidated and was at risk for demolition. Protests in recent years prompted a competition seeking the most economically feasible solution to save the structure.

Dutch firms NL Architects and XVW architectuur won the competition with their proposal to renovate the existing buil...

Reverting from an industrial base to "social capital"-driven economy in Chelyabinsk's winning master plan

2017-02-02T13:12:00-05:00

How can architects transform the driving economy of a preexisting city? The team of de Architekten Cie. + Felixx Landscape Architects & Planners won The City Administration of Chelyabinsk's competition to redesign the historical center of their formerly industrial town based on a scheme that fosters "the city as a breeding ground for social capital." According to a press release, the team's plan transforms the city of approximately 1.5 million people in three principal ways:

1. Grid: Inclusive realm

Streets are the main public realms in the city. Apart from being spaces for car traffic, they serve as linear public spaces. The redevelopment and upgrading of streets allows for the integration of environmental infrastructure, the organization of slow traffic and public transportation.

2. Blocks: Mixed-use program

The existing blocks in the city leave a lot of empty space yet to be developed. The new masterplan proposes gradual transformation of the existing grid by replacing deteriorated ...