Schoonschip, a Sustainable Community
The project of Schoonschip aimed to create Europe’s most sustainable floating community in North Amsterdam. The goal was to develop 47 houseboats on 30 plots for over 100 residents, who will move into and revitalize a disused canal and establish themselves as a showcase of how to build and live sustainably. The project is intended to be an urban ecosystem embedded within the fabric of the city: making full use of ambient energy and water for use and re-use, cycling nutrients and minimizing waste, and creating space for natural biodiversity.
It stresses clean water, clean energy, and responsible consumption. The community is built on a disused canal, with the development of the community, the canal will be revitalized. The energy is from solar radiation, water pumps, and water itself. So the resource demand will be lower than conventional communities which will contribute to affordable energy. The project aims to create a self-sufficient community, which will also foster eco-friendly production, reduce waste, and boost recycling.
Sustainability not only reflects in the built materials but also in self-sufficient systems. The project also aimed to create a model for circularity. The neighborhood should be fully self-sufficient in renewable heat and electricity, water collection, etc. And the neighborhood should have a much lower resource demand than conventional homes.
The precedent is a community project which uses solar radiation, cycling water, nutrients, waste, etc., to create a sustainable and self-sufficient community.
