First Floating Homes Enter Amsterdam

Recently the first floating homes have been moved into the harbour of the new island neighbourhood IJburg in Amsterdam. IJburg is a brand new district in the eastern part of town completely surrounded by water. Artificial islands made of sand from the bottom of the IJmeer are created to build over 12.000 new dwellings. On Steigereiland (a sub neighbourhood of IJburg) the first serious water housing project in the Netherland has kicked off. During this summer 40 floating design houses will enter IJburg.

Experiments with living on water need to take place, as the Netherlands should be prepared for rising sea levels in the future. On the other hand, floating neighbourhoods can bring a solution to the problem of housing shortage in our dense metropolitan areas. Since we‘re doing research after floating houses at IJburg, we were able to take these pictures of the first floating houses shipped to their place. After interviewing a couple of fresh inhabitants, we know that a lot of things were very difficult during the preparatory process. But now most of the buyers are happy to live on water now.