Sluisbuurt 1B
A stacked neighborhood
Together with Beyond Space and commissioned by housing corporation de Alliantie Ontwikkeling, we designed Sluisbuurt 1B: a mixed-use residential building in Amsterdam’s new neighborhood on Zeeburgereiland. Conceived as a “stacked neighborhood,” the project comprises 228 apartments, with 80% dedicated to social housing, alongside a community center, work units and retail. The program is organized around residential clusters, shared routes and communal spaces, from the active plinth to the collective roof garden.
Designed for Community
An inclusive urban vision
An inclusive urban vision
Sluisbuurt is an emerging district on Zeeburgereiland in Amsterdam East, set between the IJ waterfront and the city’s eastern docklands. Planned as a high-density, low-car neighborhood, it brings housing, work, public space and daily amenities within walking distance. Sluisbuurt 1B occupies a key site where the Waterplein, Hoogstraat and future bicycle connection toward the city come together, and responds to both the urban vision of the district as well as to the need for affordable housing.
Organized as three volumes above a double-height plinth, the project adds 183 social housing units, 45 mid-market homes, shared amenities, public functions designed to encourage informal encounters and connection. Each volume is differentiated through brick color, façade rhythm and detailing: a warm terracotta corner block with staggered façades and balconies, a darker middle block with street-facing masonry and courtyard galleries, and a lighter tower with pale masonry and green glazed accents.
We believe that spaces shape behavior, and when buildings are designed around the way people live, meet and move, they can inspire real connection and allow communities to flourish.’
'Sluisbuurt 1B is about the life around the homes as much as the homes themselves. By combining affordable housing with shared spaces and neighborhood functions, the building gives residents places to meet, participate and feel at home in the new Sluisbuurt.'’
Third floor
A stacked neighborhood
A stacked neighborhood
Above the active plinth, residential clusters support different ways of living. Family homes are placed near the courtyard and outdoor play areas, homes for older residents along generous galleries and near a shared living room, and apartments for starters and single-person households close to the collective roof garden and other shared indoor spaces.
These spaces are not isolated amenities, but are placed along the building’s natural routes to encourage moments of contact while still allowing room to retreat. At ground level, the community center, work units and retail open the building to the neighborhood. Together, these residential and public spaces allow Sluisbuurt 1B to add more than affordable homes; it supports a community that can grow alongside the new neighborhood.
The plinth is where Sluisbuurt 1B meets the neighborhood: it is the part that belongs most directly to the city, with a neighborhood center, makerspace, work units and retail bringing activity, production and public life into the building.’
