IJburg — Liv­ing on Reclaimed Islands

  • Ams­ter­dam
  • Dur­a­tion: 3 hours
  • Date and time to be defined

IJburg is Amsterdam’s most ambi­tious hous­ing expan­sion, com­pris­ing sev­en arti­fi­cial islands in Lake IJmeer.

With an even­tu­al total of 18,000 homes, the pro­ject show­cases a diverse mix of hous­ing types, urb­an con­cepts, and design freedoms. Devel­op­ment began in 1999 with the first four islands com­pleted by 2011; the second phase star­ted in 2013 and con­tin­ues to evolve.

The design of IJburg emphas­izes vari­ety and innov­a­tion. Hous­ing options range from urb­an blocks and row houses to detached fam­ily homes and float­ing res­id­ences. In cer­tain areas, homeown­ers are gran­ted full design free­dom, bypassing the muni­cip­al beauty com­mis­sion, res­ult­ing in a neigh­bor­hood with strik­ing archi­tec­tur­al diversity.

The tour offers a close-up view of IJburg’s innov­at­ive approach to urb­an expan­sion, provid­ing insights into how cit­ies can integ­rate water-based liv­ing and cus­tom­ized hous­ing solu­tions with­in a cohes­ive urb­an framework.

Tour High­lights: IJburg

  • Cre­ation of the Islands: insights into the tech­nic­al and plan­ning chal­lenges of cre­at­ing arti­fi­cial islands, includ­ing land reclam­a­tion tech­niques, ground own­er­ship, and urb­an design principles.
  • Steigereil­and (2008–2011): private homes designed by firms such as VMX Archi­tects, Claus en Kaan, Rocha Tombal, and Faro.
  • Slu­ishuis (BIG and Bar­code, 2022): ter­raced hous­ing com­plex set dir­ectly in the water
  • Float­ing Homes (Marlies Rohmer et al., 2010): res­id­ences that show­case innov­at­ive solu­tions for liv­ing on water.
  • IJburg Har­bour and Jonas (Orange Archi­tects, 2023): mixed-use devel­op­ment incor­por­at­ing res­id­en­tial, com­mer­cial, and pub­lic spaces
  • Centrumei­l­and: self-build zone, cur­rently under construction
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