Republica Buiksloterham Amsterdam-Noord housing, Dutch homes, Holland residential architecture photos
Republica Housing in Buiksloterham, Amsterdam-Noord
12 January 2026
Architects: Marc Koehler Associates
Location: Buiksloterham, Amsterdam-Noord, The Netherlands
Photos by Sebastian van Damme
Republica Housing, Buiksloterham, Amsterdam-Noord, Holland
What does sustainable collective living in the densified city of the future look like? That was the question behind Republica, one of the pioneer projects in the former industrial area of Buiksloterham in Amsterdam North, which is being transformed into a new piece of circular city. The answer is a functionally mixed and connected ‘urban village’ with a building density of FSI 3 and a remarkably high quality of housing and public realm.
Republica uniquely integrates housing (built to rent and to buy) with co-work and flex office, leisure, hospitality, short and long stay, and E-mobility facilities in a pedestrianized ‘permeable super block’. Tall buildings are combined with intimate public squares, alleys, stairs, and terraces. Seats are well integrated into planters for rainwater retention. The result is a functionally hybrid, spatially densified, yet light, spacious, and human-centered urban public realm.
Loft architecture
The loft architecture, with large windows, high ceilings, large floor spans, and robust materials, references the industrial language of the Amsterdam harbors, while the natural stone plaza and grand stairs have a cheerful, almost Southern European quality. The restaurant building has a monumental brick facade and slightly recedes from the building line; the resulting space, facing south, is furnished with wide seating steps: the ‘Spanish steps’ of Buiksloterham.
All of this is ‘lifted’ on a half-submerged parking garage with charging points for electric shared cars and a large bicycle parking area. Furthermore, experimentation is being done with sustainable and circular materials and installation techniques such as greywater reuse, a self-established electric power company, a micro-grid, heat recovery from air and sewage water, and waste separation.
“We ‘opened up’ the given closed factory plot of 80mx80m to the surroundings and carefully rearranged it into an ensemble of six buildings and squares and alleys, connecting them to the neighborhood via two bridges and a monumental stair. It includes a lively mix of functions: apartments (built to rent and to buy between 60-130m2) including a tower with ten Superlofts, commercial and office spaces, a gym, two café-restaurants, and a mid to long-stay apartment-hotel. On the roof, there will be a sauna club with a pool overlooking the IJ lake.”
Open building and circular economy
The soft green concrete tower with adaptable core and shell Superlofts allows residents to radically customize their interiors. It marks the central ‘village square’ paved with demountable natural stone. The white residential block is made of timeless, specially profiled (partly recycled) concrete. The apartment-hotel building has a wooden facade, coming from a source of renewable materials. The warehouse office building is made of recyclable and durable Corten steel and, due to its extra clear height, it is also suitable for manufacturing. The brick facade of the cafe and co-work is made of recycled bricks, which are manipulated in surface texture and laid in different patterns. Each building thus has its own story, structure, function, form, and sustainable facade finish, and can therefore be adapted independently of each other in function, layout, and expression (Open Cities).
They ‘grow’ with the times and thus last longer, likely resulting in significantly less demolition and construction waste in the future. Most buildings are flexibly divisible due to the separation of support and fit-out systems, large spans, high ceilings, large windows, and demountable material systems ( the results are what MKA calls Open Buildings and Open Systems). The timeless circular and social architecture that is the result that MKA strives for is inspired by the so-called ‘Open Building’ movement, founded by the late John Habraken in the 1960s. For more information about this please visit www.openbuilding.co and www.Superlofts.co
Energy cooperative
As part of circular Buiksloterham, Republica is a testlab for sustainable construction and living, selected by the City of Amsterdam and subsidized by the EU. It is an energy-positive city plot (meaning the solar panels and ‘Geothermal well’ generate more power than is needed). An innovative energy cooperative has been established to generate, store, and exchange sustainable solar energy between residents using a micro-grid network, ‘neighborhood battery’, and Geothermal well.
Vibrant plinth
All technical rooms, parking spaces, bicycles, installations, storage, waste separation, and hotel logistics are concealed in the semi-underground garage, ensuring sufficient daylight in the parking area. This keeps the facades facing the raised ground level and the surrounding streets open on all sides, thus increasing liveliness, social safety, and livability.
De Jakoba, Amsterdam, Holland – Building Information
Architects: Marc Koehler Associates – https://marckoehler.com/
Location: Amsterdam-Noord, Buiksloterham
Client: Republica VOF, (Banlieu BV & Vink Bouw), Machiel Brautigam, Bernlef de Vries
Year: 2015 – 2024
Program
55 residences, including 32 homes for sale, featuring 10 Superlofts among others, and 23 rental apartments (by Loer Architects), 8 offices, commercial spaces totaling 2,600 m2, and a long-stay hotel with 126 rooms. (Bob W.), 3 hospitality units totaling 900 m2, parking garage of 3,500 m2 with 98 spots, Floor Space Index (FSI) of 3.3 (excluding the garage).
Total GFA 20.300 sqm
UFA + RSF 18.300 sqm
Design
Overall architecture Republica: Marc Koehler Architects Block 3 with mid-range rental apartments: Loer Architecten
Sustainability
EPC 0,2 | GPR 8,4 | Rainproof
Republica has received European funding to implement a sustainable energy supply; a smart grid.
Team
Marc Koehler Architects, Loer Architecten, Vink Bouw, Pieters Bouwtechniek, DPA, Dakdokters, Techniplan, INNAX, Spectral, Cauberg Huygen.
About MKA
The practice explores smart, responsible ways of building spaces and communities around the world, using innovation as an instrument with purpose. In order to do so, MKA develops future ready concepts, systems, and tools to pioneer new forms of urban communities that enable new possibilities for living, working, learning, and growing.
MKA designs speak to the senses, bridging together opposites to create new beauty with timeless warmth, and invite people to touch and change them, to make them their very own. An entrepreneurial approach allows the practice to proactively explore new alternatives of development that better align with people’s future needs.
Photography: Sebastian van Damme
Republica, Buiksloterham, Amsterdam-Noord housing images / information received 120126
Location: Amsterdam-Noord, The Netherlands, The Netherlands, western Europe.
Amsterdam Buildings
Major New Dutch Capital Building Designs
The Bow Overhoeks Amsterdam apartments building, Overhoeks, Amsterdam North
Architect: Orange Architects
photography : Sebastian van Damme, Tom de Kort, Emile Hoens
Tolhuiskade Apartments, Tolhuiskanaal
Design: Civic Architects
photo : Stijn Bollaert
Floating Gardens, Heathrowstraat, Sloterdijk
Design: Orange Architects, with Bureau Rowin Petersma
photos by Sebastian van Damme, Emile Hoens, Stijn Poelstra, Kees Hummel, Egbert de Boer
++
Dutch Architecture
Amsterdam Walking Tours by e-architect
Amsterdam Architecture – contemporary building information
Amsterdam Buildings – historic building information
Comments / photos for the Republica, Buiksloterham, Amsterdam-Noord housing design by Marc Koehler Associates Architects, The Netherlands, page welcome.
