AZ Awards 2021 Finalist: Floating Home - AZ Awards

AZ Awards 2021 Finalist: Floating Home

A cluster of 46 houses above a disused Amsterdam canal, Schoonschip is touted as Europe’s most sustainable floating neighbourhood.

Year: 2021
Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Firm: i29 architects, the Netherlands
Photos: Ewout Huibers
Category: Single-Family Houses

A cluster of 46 houses above a disused Amsterdam canal, Schoonschip is touted as Europe’s most sustainable floating neighbourhood. The latest addition, the three-storey Floating Home by Dutch studio i29, lives up to this billing. It’s heated in part by a water pump that extracts warmth from the canal. The exterior is prismatic and austere with a pitched roof and dark timber cladding. But the interiors feature warm millwork and seating that overlooks both a triple-height atrium and the canal beyond, bringing a sense of liveliness — one might even say buoyancy — to the entire project.