While else­where the wealthy were build­ing their vil­las, in Ams­ter­dam a group of vis­ion­ary archi­tects, employed by for­ward-think­ing hous­ing asso­ci­ations, were cre­at­ing ‘palaces for the people’. One hun­dred years later, they serve as inspir­a­tion for new build­ings and areas in the neigh­bour­ing Houthaven. In the 1920s, work­ers’ hous­ing was one of the main chal­lenges in Ams­ter­dam. Ambi­tious young archi­tects built “palaces for the work­ing classes” in Spaarn­dam­mer­buurt, includ­ing the icon­ic Het Schip com­plex. Recently, a new hous­ing block has been inser­ted into this area which aims to trans­port the ideals of the 1920s into the 2020s. A few hun­dred metres north lies the former wood­ship­ping har­bour, one of the main new hous­ing dis­tricts in Ams­ter­dam. Sev­en man-made, car-free pen­in­su­las form a ridge struc­ture, lined with a total of 2700 flats, includ­ing 20% social rent­al housing.