Floating Communities: a Fresh Approach to Climate Change and Sustainability

    The way we live is evolving and changing to combat current climate change and mass population growth. One community in Amsterdam took it upon themselves to design a solution. The unique part about this solution is the fact that all of the housing units are floating on the Johan van Hasselt Canal in Amsterdam. 

    Schoonship is a sustainable and floating community in Amsterdam. The community is a close-knit group of people who all share a certain love for the environment and the water. Five large smart jetties stretch out into the harbor where six small houses connected attached, three on each side. The community is home to 30 floating dwellings and more than 100 people altogether. 

One of the 5 Schoonship Jetty Communities 

“Schoonschip - Space&Matter.” RSS. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.spaceandmatter.nl/work/schoonschip.

    The design for the Schoonship was developed by citizens aspiring to live in a place that was protected from nature and sea level rise by protecting nature and living sustainably.  

    Each house itself has its own architectural expression and character. Each home has a unique aesthetic from the next celebrating the charm of each individual family. Although all different, each house complements the next with a lack of repetition. 

The Various Units of the Schoonship

“Schoonschip - Space&Matter.” RSS. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.spaceandmatter.nl/work/schoonschip.

    All homes in the Schoonship are designed to be very ecologically friendly. They are topped with solar panels and green roofs. Each unit has energy-efficient appliances that keep the community at a net zero consumption rate. Heating and cooling units are submerged in a heat recovery system. Most of the material used to make each dwelling has some sustainable background whether it be FSC wood or repurposed and recycled material. Water is heated via sun boilers on the roofs of each home. 

The Sustainable and Ecologically Friendly Practices Found on the Schoonship
“Schoonschip - Space&Matter.” RSS. Accessed November 28, 2023. https://www.spaceandmatter.nl/work/schoonschip.

    The community strives to be a precedent for more projects like this to come. They are constantly evolving their own sustainable practices and pushing the envelope on what is possible. The Schoonship residents want more projects like this to pop up all over the world and continue to build and live sustainably.