A new landmark for Amsterdam

Sluishuis, which means lock house in English, is a double cantilever structure that forms a bridge between IJburg and Amsterdam city centre.

It has 442 carbon-neutral flats, a public green roof garden with a rooftop walkway, bird and recreational islands, jetties for boats, catering facilities and a two-storey underground car park below water level.

It is designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) from Denmark and Dutch Barcode Architects. It was built by a joint venture of Besix Nederland and Vorm Bouw.

The building forms part of the IJburg development, a residential neighbourhood under construction to the east of the city centre on artificial islands reclaimed form the IJmeer lake.

Dirk Peters, founding partner at Barcode Architects, said: “With iconic architecture, as well as new housing typologies, high-quality outdoor spaces, and breathtaking views of the IJmeer, Sluishuis is a new landmark for IJburg as well as Amsterdam.”

Bjarke Ingels added: “Having spent my formative years as an architect in the Netherlands at the end of the 20th century, it feels like a homecoming to now get to contribute to the architecture of the city that I have loved and admired for so long.”

Sluishuis is designed with a range of apartment types for different budgets and tenancy types. There are compact city studios, water sports apartments, and duplex penthouses with views on both the inner harbour and the lake. The stepped part of the building has the premium apartments with wooden sun-oriented roof terraces with lake views.

The sustainability of Sluishuis is an integral part of the project – it generates more energy than it consumes, thanks to high-performance insulation (with aluminium façade), triple glazing and heat recovery on the ventilation systems and wastewater. Energy consumption is further reduced by a heat and cold storage (CHS) system in the ground for heat and cooling in combination with a connection to the district heating system for peak times. The remaining energy consumption for heating, heat pumps, ventilation, and LED lighting is compensated by 2,200 sqm of solar panels, to which an entire floating island adjacent to the project is dedicated.

Vorm chief executive Hans Meurs said: “If we were to design all the Netherlands like Sluishuis, we would no longer have an energy problem and loneliness would be almost impossible. A successful project in every sense of the word. We all worked with passion on this project. That makes me proud.”

Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk