Urban Sustainability at 360 Degrees in Amsterdam

360 Degrees

Cityplot Buiksloterham, in the North of Amsterdam, started off as a testing ground for innovative urban development and is currently being transformed from a disused industrial area into a lively residential and commercial district that realises the circular ambitions of the area.

The parties involved with the project, a Studioninedots concept, signed a covenant a few years ago to build sustainably at this location.

360 Degrees (formerly City Icon / 360 Twins) is part of this larger development and this building will become a real eye-catcher, being the tallest building in this new sustainable district in Amsterdam Noord.

Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Client: Amvest
Design: Studioninedots
Construction: Heddes Bouw en Ontwikkeling
Application: Facades
Products: Blackpepper Raw

Impact

Waste upcycled with this project 152.585 kg

Connected.

This unique building by client Amvest, featuring 122 rental apartments and commercial spaces, will be visible from the centre of Amsterdam and is located right on the IJ water.

The apartment building has no distinct front or back facade and appears different from every perspective, connecting to the surrounding neighbourhoods. Instead of creating one huge, solid volume, two slim towers merge underneath into a terraced podium.

The two adjacent towers are placed in such a way that they don’t block each other’s views and all apartments on the podium feature spacious roof gardens with a sunny orientation or facing the Tolhuiskanaal.

Their balconies create a friendly transition from the low scale of the surrounding buildings to the two towers.

Blackpepper Facade

At an early stage of this project, Studioninedots approached StoneCycling to convert the gradient that had been developed for the facade in collaboration with Architectural Materials Amsterdam (AMA) into WasteBasedBricks®.

In the current design, the base of the building (the darkest layer) will be made entirely of WasteBasedBricks® in the Blackpepper ‘flavour’. 152.585 KG of waste will be given a new destination.

The challenge of the facade effect, which gradually transitions from black to white is that we had to search for pure white construction waste as well as pure black, and various shades of grey to blend the two.

Cityplot Buiksloterham presents architecture, public space and landscape as one complete integrated system that will keep evolving over time.

The interrelationship between residents and the sustainable systems will contribute to a future-proof area, showcasing flexible models of development as an innovative urban ‘living lab’.

360 Twins forms an integral part of Cityplot Buiksloterham and therefore shares its ambitions based on flexibility, circularity and social sustainability.

Media Mentions

360 Twins [studioninedots.nl]
Project in beeld: City Icoon te Amsterdam [heddes.nl]
Aanneemovereenkomst project City Icoon getekend [heddes.nl]

360 Twins forms an integral part of Cityplot Buiksloterham and therefore shares its ambitions based on flexibility, circularity and social sustainability.

Metin Van Zijl, Studioninedots