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The winning design forms the culmination of a new 150-home self-build neighbourhood in the north of Deventer, where respect for nature and the landscape is central. The Hanging Gardens of Zandweerd is a residential building of 35 apartments with stacked gardens offering uninterrupted views over the river IJssel. A shared roof terrace serves as a meeting place for the residential community.
The Hanging Gardens of Zandweerd
Raising nature-inclusive living to new heights
Residential building, Architecture
In the new district of Nieuw Delft, next to the central station, Common City developed the winning plan LeeuwenDeel in collaboration with Space&Matter. The residential building is located at a central spot alongside the upcoming Van Leeuwenhoekpark. The free-standing building forms a connecting element in between the building blocks and residents of Delft.
LeeuwenDeel
Community-driven residential building atop vibrant plinth
Architecture, Residential building, Mixed use spaces
Together with TU Delft, KNVB and the City of Amsterdam, Space&Matter is launching the pilot project Innovation Clubhouse; a sports club that acts as a living lab where technological and social innovations are tested and further developed. Innovation is crucial for sports clubs in the Netherlands to stay future-proof. Many sports clubs face challenges such as high competition, high energy prices and outdated facilities. These problems are compounded by the changing consumption habits of new generations. Sports clubs can meet these challenges by innovating and responding intelligently to current social trends.
Innovation Clubhouse
From sports club to innovation lab
Transformation, Innovation, Strategic Design
Firmly embedded in the historic Nimmerdor forest in Amersfoort, Common Woods redefines what it means for people to live in harmony with nature. We designed this visionary neighbourhood and all 56 circular homes in it with an eye for existing ecology, social inclusion and high quality of life. Each home and the neighbourhood as a whole is surrounded by a nature reserve rich in history and biodiversity. It is set to be the most sustainable neighbourhood in Europe to date.
Common Woods
Redefining what it means for people to live in harmony with nature
CPO Building, House, Neighbourhood, Residential building, Circular, Biodiversity, Community, Participatory design, Sustainability, Wood, Urban development, Spatial vision, Architecture
The Community Land Trust model has been revolutionising community-led land ownership and stewardship in the United States since the 1970s. In recent decades, grassroots organisations and volunteers have been adopting this model in Europe, sowing the seeds for a just transition towards more affordable housing. Now, the time has come to connect these organisations to strengthen their collective voice, increase their impact, and provide more people with access to sustainable and affordable housing alternatives.
European Community Land Trust Network
Scaling-up and improving the social and environmental impact of CLTs
Sometimes, all the puzzle pieces fall perfectly into place for a project. Core values that a team of city makers stand for - solidarity, shared responsibility, and inclusivity - are at the heart of SAMPLE. This inclusive mixed-use building in Amsterdam North features a circular hub and a productive plinth. Made possible through a collaboration of experts in shaping a circular society. The project was developed by KondorWessels in collaboration with our ecosystem partner Common City, design partners Mecanoo and ZUS, advisors Metabolic, Arup, SWECO, New Horizon, and Finch Buildings, as well as Verderdig Noord’s local expertise and valuable input.
Sample
Adding a social dimension to a circular district
Mixed use spaces, Residential building, Circular, Community
Space&Matter, in a consortium of Ballast Nedam Development, has won the bid to realise a nature-inclusive neighbourhood on Strandeiland, Amsterdam's newly constructed island east of the centre. Created in collaboration with design partners ZUS and NL Architects, the urban design for this new residential neighbourhood of 215 homes and a community hub prioritises energy self-sufficiency and circularity, while fostering a strong sense of community.
Strandeiland №1
Where nature and community come together
Beekkwartier is a dynamic, playful and highly sustainable neighbourhood that seamlessly connects over 100 homes to a new ecological district in Roosendaal. We delivered an urban plan that mirrors and accentuates the distinct living preferences of future inhabitants, whilst also ensuring that the neighbourhood as a whole feels inclusive and complete. Green pathways unite the neighbourhood’s three blocks and invite residents to explore nature.
Beekkwartier
112 homes in a new ecological district
neighbourhood, community, biodiversity, sustainability, urban plan, spatial design
Situated in the heart of the upcoming August Allebéplein neighbourhood in the west of Amsterdam, August&Ally is a thoughtfully designed multi-residential building. It contains twenty affordable apartments for senior citizens and shell-state spaces for socially-conscious hospitality entrepreneurs on the ground floor. Designed in collaboration with future tenants and according to Open Building principles, August&Ally functions as both a social and environmental focal point. The presence of small businesses, a shared living room, integrated spaces for local flora and fauna and both sunny and shady terraces to choice from add liveliness to the building and its surroundings.
August&Ally
The future of August Allebéplein
Architecture, Circular, Community, Residential Building, Participatory Design
The Bataafse Kamp, a characteristic school building in the centre of Hengelo from the post-war reconstruction period, is being transformed by Space&Matter into sustainable Park Homes organised around a collective courtyard. The redesign of the building and the adjacent park enhances appealing qualities and adds new functions. Together, they form an interwoven ensemble, combining clean lines with soft vegetation, living in a heritage building with nature.
Bataafse Kamp
Living in a heritage building intertwined with nature
Wij_land is a pioneering self-build collective. We brought together a group of self-proclaimed “pragmatic idealists” and guided them in designing their dream home: a climate-neutral, rainproof multi-residential building made up of low-maintenance and nature-friendly materials. Residents can choose between multiple types of customisable dwellings and determine the infill of the five shared spaces.
wij_land
Rethinking the way we live together
residential building, community, circular, participatory design, sustainability, wood, architecture, feasibility study, spatial design
The State of California has set an ambitious target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, while the Netherlands aims to become fully circular by 2050. To achieve these goals, it is crucial that we rapidly decarbonise our cities, rethinking the way we live, work, learn, and travel. To accomplish this, we must move beyond the siloed thinking of the past and design productive systems that promote the local harvesting of food, energy, and water. By ensuring that resources circulate at their highest value for the longest possible time and minimising waste.
Circular city of 2030
Envisioning the future of Culver city
Circular City House, originally called Spectrum, is our winning contribution to a development competition organised by the City of Amsterdam. This multifunctional building composed entirely of wood is wrapped around the iconic cafe De Omval, thereby honouring the area’s rich history while also giving it a new future. What makes this project extra special is the fact that the real estate development and construction management will be done by companies directly linked to Space&Matter.
Circular City House
A mixed-use building that honours De Omval’s rich history
Mixed use spaces,Participatory design,Innovation,Community,Sustainability,Circular,Open Building,Wood,Architecture,Transformation,Urban development,Urban plan
This renowned circular neighbourhood was initiated and developed by a group of enthusiasts with a shared dream: to build a sustainable, close-knit community on the water. The initiators of Schoonschip commissioned Space&Matter to develop an urban plan, and together with a team of multidisciplinary experts and future residents, we designed the urban plan, plot passport and smart jetty that unite this inspiring community.
Schoonschip
A sustainable floating community
Neighbourhood, regenerative, innovation, circular, community, participatory design, sustainability, floating, feasibility study, urban plan
Growy is on a mission to fundamentally change the way we produce food in cities by developing the world’s first fully robotized, zero-waste vertical farm. Now, Space&Matter and Growy joined forces to design the Urban Food Hub: a structure that not only houses Growy’s unparalleled vertical farm but also, and perhaps more importantly, brings people together to teach them about sustainable food production. The design is bespoke and adaptive at once: recurring programmatic elements ensure that each structure makes good on Growy promise to provide on-demand produce of high, consistent quality; at the same time, the infill of certain floors can be easily adjusted to meet every community’s unique needs. Our ultimate goal is to establish a global network of Food Hubs so that we can bring fresh and healthy food to all those who want it.
Urban Food Hub
A home for the world’s first zero-waste vertical farm
Circular, sustainability, architecture, innovation, mixed use spaces
Together with residents, entrepreneurs, stakeholders of Wijk aan Zee, and the City of Beverwijk Space&Matter explored and created a spatial vision that would strengthen this Dutch coastal town for many years to come. In a series of participatory design workshops, locals showed up to share and discuss their hopes, concerns and, eventually, collective vision for the future of the place they call home. Based on their input, we developed five distinct scenarios with nature inclusive design, multifunctional spaces and bottom-up development as the guiding principles. In the last workshop, residents expressed their preferences for a spatial plan in which educational, civic and care facilities, a change that creates new, much-needed space for housing and makes the town more resilient overall. The study was enabled by subsidy from Creative Industries Fund NL.
Wijk aan Zee
Co-creating a place for young and old
spatial vision, participatory design, biodiversity, workshop, research
The City of Amsterdam invited Space&Matter to help develop a comprehensive and sustainable strategy for the redevelopment of Buikslotermeerplein. We involved diverse urban experts, stakeholders and local citizens to develop a strategy for the redevelopment of this shopping area in the North of Amsterdam. The masterplan and the process to deliver it has the purpose to transform a grey, monofunctional shopping mall area into a sustainable, vibrant and highly liveable city centre in Amsterdam’s northern periphery.
Buikslotermeerplein
From mall to mixed-use neighbourhood
Neighbourhood, Sustainability, Community, Innovation, Participatory design, Masterplan
The city of Amsterdam has high ambitions on transforming its economy to be fully circular by 2050. The buildings and construction sector is responsible for 39% of energy related CO2 emissions. At the same time, there are multiple local businesses working on implementing circular economy strategies to improve the environmental impact of their products and services for the built environment sector. The Economic department of the City of Amsterdam came to us with an ambition of supporting these circular businesses to enable their growth in the region, the collaboration and help them to export their circular products and services.
Amsterdam Circular Ecosystem
Connecting businesses to accelerate the transition to a circular built environment
Circular, Community, Strategic Design
Space&Matter was commissioned by Cireco to envision the transformation of Tehdassaari, the iconic island on which the original, now unused Nokia headquarters and warehouse are situated. Cireco wants to transform this 28,000 m2 post-industrial site into a centre for ecosocial well-being, combining sustainable development and circular economy solutions. Following a series of collaborative co-creation workshops, we delivered a vision with a strong narrative that outlines to future investors, collaborators and the public the multiple forms of value (ecological, economic and socio-cultural) that could flow from developing this historic site in a circular way.
Tehdassaari
Transforming Nokia Island into an innovation district for circularity
Circular, Innovation, Research, Workshop, Transformation, mixed use spaces, community
Cities around the world are trying to find ways to grow and operate sustainably. By sharing knowledge and best practices, we can all learn and transition more quickly. Dutch embassies and consulates worldwide connect with local stakeholders and projects, creating links across borders. The RVO (Netherlands Enterprise Agency) asked us to help these embassies successfully facilitate conversations between stakeholders involved in sustainable and innovative area development through the development of a presentation, workshop and a manual for the embassies to facilitate these workshops themselves. The workshop needs to help cater the following question: How can we bring people together and open doors for new collaborations focused on the future of sustainable cities?
Courageous City Dialogues
Co-creating local solutions for urgent global challenges
Co-Operate is an initiative from Space&Matter, And The People, and New Economy that strives to develop ownership models that have a positive effect on the circular ambitions of a neighbourhood and the wellbeing of its residents. Launched in 2020, we aim to support the transition to a society based on co-creation, participation, and inclusion. By focussing on the business model behind the buildings, we work towards the infrastructure required for homeowners and users to co-own their environment. Our first project, conducted in collaboration with and specifically for CLT H-Buurt, the first Dutch Community Land Trust, based in the Bijlmer, yields four business models based on an open framework for equitable and sustainable housing development across seven generations.
Co-Operate
Designing ownership models for circular neighbourhoods
community, circular, innovation, research
Taking cues from Kerava’s historical, cultural and educational context, we designed three spatial scenarios for the expansion and redevelopment of Kerava Central School. Situated in the heart of the city, we looked for ways of highlighting the school’s past, present and future while simultaneously increasing its presence in the community. Each design is adaptable and open to accommodate the changing, diverse needs of educators and students and includes a large, lively playground that provides sunlight and access to outdoor (learning) activities.
Kerava Central School
From school to city playground
architecture, community, neighbourhood, transformation, strategic design
The Urban Tree Village offers a solution for how we might accommodate and encourage co-living in cities where space is limited. A group of citizens asked us to investigate the importance and possibilities of co-living in an increasingly individualistic society, on the one hand, and conceptualize an (architectural) solution for this trend, on the other. As a result, we delivered the Urban Tree Village: a concept for a community-based highrise in which residents are spread out across four distinct blocks and share bespoke facilities. By blending together sustainable design and shared living principles, the Urban Tree Village sends a hopeful message to those who are working to address polarization, loneliness and climate change in cities.
The Urban Tree Village
A village in the sky
Residential building, circular, community, sustainability, wood, architecture, spatial design, trendreport, spatial vision, innovation, research
The City of Kerava invited Space&Matter to develop an urban framework and circularity toolbox that would allow them to transform an underdeveloped site of approximately 80 hectares into a thriving neighbourhood, exhibition site and Living Lab in one. We conducted research, visited the site and hosted a series of in-person workshops to gain a thorough understanding of the local culture, environment and the needs and wishes of Kerava’s citizens. The site will first be transformed into the site for the annual Housing Fair in 2024, a national exposition that showcases the newest, most innovative concepts, designs and developments in the housing industry. After the Housing Fair, this area will become a home for some 2,000 people who will take up residence in a pioneering neighbourhood where the principles of the circular economy are continuously explored, tested and implemented.
Kerava Masterplan
Housing Fair, Living Lab and neighbourhood in one
Community, Circular, Innovation, Masterplan, Urban plan, Neighbourhood
ZEE Smartlofts is about honouring the old while celebrating the new; it’s about connecting self-expression and community. In collaboration with a building group composed of fourteen households, we transformed the Oude Modeschool, a former fashion school building in the east of Amsterdam, into twenty-five Smartloft apartments. While the infill of each of these apartments is unique, designed by the people living in them, residents are connected via shared spaces they helped design.
ZEE Smartlofts
Honouring the old while celebrating the new
Residential building, Community, Participatory design, Sustainability, Architecture, Transformation, Spatial Design
For the first time ever, the City of Amsterdam has given local citizens and stakeholders the opportunity and responsibility for the design of an entire neighbourhood: Klaprozenbuurt. We joined forces with BETA architects and B+B landscape architects to develop and execute a comprehensive participatory design process that culminated in a broadly supported masterplan. In the coming years, this industrial area will be transformed into a vibrant, densified part of the city with ample living, recreational and work opportunities. Over 2,200 new homes - 40% social, 40% mid-priced and 20% private housing - will be built by 2035.
Klaprozenbuurt
A neighbourhood designed by residents
Neighbourhood, Mixed use spaces, Transformation, Community, Participatory design, Biodiversity, Urban development, Urban plan, Masterplan
SWEETS hotel offers a radical new way to experience Amsterdam. We transformed 28 unused and redundant canal-side bridge keeper's houses into an award-winning, one-of-a-kind hotel. Due to the centralisation of bridge control, Amsterdam’s bridge houses became redundant. SWEETS hotel repurposes this industrial heritage turning the bridge houses into independent suits with unique interiors, all designed with the architectural history of each of these tiny buildings in mind.
SWEETS Hotel
One hotel, 28 bridge houses
Hospitality, Innovation, Transformation, Spatial Design
Space&Matter joined forces with future tenants to design WLG: an eight-story building composed of 31 apartments of various sizes and layouts, so-called Smartlofts. This building is part of a cluster of three community buildings we designed for the City of Amsterdam, which sought to challenge traditional, top-down construction processes in a pilot project. By involving residents throughout the entire design process, we deliver a place that people actually want to live in. WLG is filled with great neighbours and good people, and we like to think that the architecture has been the catalyst for this outcome.
WLG Smartlofts
Designing a place where people actually want to live
architecture, community, participatory design, residential building, CPO building
Designed according to Open Building principles, Object One is a multi-residential building with a structural system that accommodates and encourages changes throughout its lifespan. With a stack of free lots connected via a so-called Smartframe, Object One’s future residents can choose from three unit types and customise their homes to their hearts’ desire. A plot passport ensures that the building feels unified despite architectural differences. The end result? A dynamic building in which culture, community and entrepreneurship freely flourish.
Object One
A multi-residential building designed to change
residential building, open building, community, innovation, sustainability, architecture
How do you transform a monofunctional business district into a vibrant, future-proof residential area? Brettenbuurt is our answer to this increasingly common and relevant question. Together with a diverse team of (landscape) architects, sustainability experts and project developers, we designed the Brettenbuurt. This rainproof, circular mixed-use building is composed of six different units, each with its own housing typologies, shared spaces and ubiquitous greenery.
Sloterdijk Kavel N
Creating a circular community in a business district
Residential building, Circular, Mixed use spaces, Participatory design, Architecture
JFK Smartlofts is about giving new meaning to existing structures. Together with future inhabitants, we transformed a former municipal district office into a multi-residential building filled with 36 distinct Smartlofts and various shared spaces. These Smartloft apartments are characterised by their efficient layout: with minimal circulation space and no separation of functions, the residents are free to define and adapt the infill of their homes however they please.
JFK Smartlofts
Transforming a municipal district office into an open, residential building
Transformation, Open Building, Innovation, Architecture, Residential building, Participatory design
We transformed the roof and sixth floor of De Schilde, a former Philips factory in The Hague, into one of Europe's largest urban farms. The Swiss company UrbanFarmers (out of business since 2018) commissioned us to complete the design for their second rooftop farm. The construction consists of a 1200 square meter greenhouse on the rooftop and 900 square meters for fish cultivation on the floor below. Together, the two areas create a perfect symbiotic system for the production of fish and vegetables in the city.
Urban Farmers
Greenhouse in the sky
Mixed use spaces, Transformation, Hospitality, Circular, Regenerative, Spatial vision, Urban development
Space&Matter partnered with 51N4E and Laisne Roussel to envision and design the transformation of Oostenburgereiland, an industrial site in the centre of Amsterdam. First purchased by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1661, Oostenburgereiland has a rich industrial past. This upcoming neighbourhood is defined by its rough and tough character, an identity we focused on preserving in the design of a residential complex of 24,000 square metres. As lead architect, we aligned visions and designed four out of the eight highrises, so-called Zeebonken, a reference and homage to the site’s naval, voyeuristic past. Taken together, these eight structures, their lively plinths and ubiquitous greenery form an intimate neighbourhood where the industrial past never feels very far away.
Oostenburgereiland
A neighbourhood where everybody feels at home
architecture, circular, community, neighbourhood, transformation
A polluted plot in Amsterdam was transformed into an urban oasis through a community-driven development. In 2012, together with a diverse group of architects, sustainability experts and members of the community, we put forward a regenerative concept for the former shipyard De Ceuvel Volharding. An ecohub for creative and social enterprises, De Ceuvel provides visitors with a unique experience from the moment they first lay eyes on its buildings: beautifully retrofitted houseboats placed on the land, surrounded by soil-cleaning plants and connected via a winding jetty.
De Ceuvel
A playground for innovation
Mixed use spaces, Transformation, Biodiversity, Circular, Community, Innovation, Participatory design, Regenerative, Sustainability, Architecture, Feasibility study, Spatial Design, Transformation, Urban plan
New York City and Amsterdam face similar challenges: a lack of affordable housing, increasing social inequality and the effects of climate change, to name just a few. In one attempt to formulate solutions to these issues, the Center for Architecture in New York and the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture (ARCAM) organised an international collaboration and design exhibition, Glimpses 2040. The two design organisations commissioned Space&Matter to contemplate the future of dwelling in the Slotervaart area in Amsterdam. In response, we imagined what it would be like if an entire neighbourhood were built up by clustering together groups of people into interest-based building blocks, joined together by collective courtyards.
Glimpses
Envisioning the future of living in Amsterdam
Research, Architecture, Community, Innovation
Water voor Wonen is an innovative concept that offers a holistic, future-proof solution for two related but previously unconnected problems: the housing shortage and the storage of excess surface water on farmland. For a competition organised by the province of Noord-Holland, we propose that farmers, in exchange for storing water on their land, should be given the rights to develop carbon neutral, floating houses on this newly created water surface.
Water voor Wonen
Rethinking the future of the Dutch polder
Floating, residential building, circular, architecture
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