Schoonschip – a sustainable floating community
A new neighborhood has arrived in the north of Amsterdam. Space & Matter has been working on it since 2010. Located in a short, peaceful canal connected to the River IJ, Schoonschip is Europe’s most sustainable floating neighborhood. Schoonschip consists of 46 homes and a community center, all built on 30 floating plots.
"Europe’s most sustainable floating neighborhood."
Zero gas, micro smartgrids and black water harvesting
This exceptional project was initiated by a group of enthusiasts with a shared dream. Space & Matter helped the group translate their dream into a masterplan where each member could realize their own home with their own architect. All homes are built using low-impact circular materials, and Space & Matters’ partner firms Metabolic and Spectral have engineered and realized smart technology for energy sharing.
Energy comes from 500 solar panels and heat from 30 water pumps, the sewage is reused and turned into biogas and fertilizer in a floating biorefinery, and a third of the roof surface of each house will become a roof garden, helping to cool down the city in the summer. Schoonschip aims to become a frontrunner in sustainable technology by working together and exchanging ideas, from low-tech solutions as using reusable containers for takeaways to high-tech systems as blockchain technology for the local energy trade.
