Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Located at the harbor of Amsterdam IJburg, Jonas by Orange Architects and Felixx Landscape Architects is a new concept for a mixed-use residential building, designed to enhance social cohesion by creating a sustainable and inviting heart for not only its residents but the complete neighborhood.
Orange Architects calls it the net-zero energy residential project “an imposing building with a warm heart, and a housing concept that focuses on connections.”
Jonas has been awarded a 2023 Best New Future House Award by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum Museum for Architecture and Design.
The project features a mixed-use program that aims to increase social cohesion in the neighborhood.
The newly created IJburg is located on the eastern edges of the Danish capital, spread across man-made islands in the IJ river.
In response to the growing need for housing and the lack of available space near the city center of Amsterdam, the neighborhood was developed over the last two decades.
Jonas completes the final piece of the development puzzle around the port of IJburg, located at the center of the island.
“Jonas is a case study for a new development in The Netherlands: sustainable and collective living in high urban density. The building is designed to strengthen social cohesion by creating an inviting heart, not only for its residents but for the entire neighborhood of Amsterdam IJburg,” explains Orange Architects.
The project’s name Jonas refers to the story of “Jonas and the Whale.”
It stands for adventure, but also protection and comfort inside a “big body.”
It is a heroic building with a warm heart. But Jonas is also a sustainable and attractive building that stands out from the surrounding buildings in IJburg – if only because of the special site on the headland and the special program it accommodates.
The building expresses in a striking manner themes that belong to this location: water, quayside, and the craft of shipbuilding.
As a result, Jonas feels natural, because the building embraces the “soul of the place” and renders it visible.
Overall, the building forms a “living landscape.”
At the front of Jonas, a public forecourt is bordered by a timber pavilion with steps, which act as a three-dimensional playground.
The pavilion also marks the entrance to the car park and serves as a tribune for all kinds of activities, such as film screenings or outdoor events.
The green exterior, with trees providing shade, invites people to linger and – in the summer – there is even a city beach on the water’s edge.
The building with its irregular openings creates the impression that the windows are gently undulating across the facade.
That makes Jonas a bit different. It is not covered in stone but faced in dark, pre-patinated zinc.
The façade does not touch the ground but is lifted off it.
The volume is not rectangular but diamond-shaped.
That makes it both familiar and alienating, sculptural yet rational, recognizable yet innovative.
Project: Jonas
Architects: Orange Architects
Lead Architects: Patrick Meijers, Jeroen Schipper, Paul Kierkels, and Elena Staskute Landscape Architects: Felixx Landscape Architects
Client: Amvest
Contractor: Ballast Nedam West
Design Team: ABT, Felixx Landscape Architects, SITE urban development, Pubblik&Vos, Bureau Stadsnatuur, JMJ Bouwmanagement, Floor Ziegler, SmitsRinsma
Photographers: Sebastian van Damme
