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Schoonship
by Sam Lien
Under severe cold weather (for Floridians at least), we biked along the roads of Amsterdam and explored the different water management sites with Lot Locher. Seeing different neighborhoods with such close proximity to water, I thought we have seen enough. That, however, was no longer the case until noon, when we biked to Schoonschip.
Along Amsterdam's Johan van Hasseltkanaal, Schoonschip is recognized as a groundbreaking neighborhood, embodying the ideals of resilience, sustainability, and community. A community of 46 floating homes, they have transcended the boundaries of conventional living, setting new heights for environmentally conscious and energy-efficient architectural efforts. Through its innovative design, commitment to renewable energy, and focus on establishing strong communal ties, Schoonschip has become a must-go for home builders who are looking for creativity and inspiration. Schoonschip was not only founded to become the most sustainable floating neighborhood in the world, but it also seeks to share knowledge and experiences via an open-source way to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy and mitigate climate change.
Redefining Resilience in the Face of Climate Change:
Climate change poses challenges to cities worldwide, particularly those around coastline regions. However, Schoonschip redefines resilience through adaptive urban planning and design. Schoonschip was initiated by a small group of people with the intention to create self-sustainable homes. They selected friends, family, and other like-minded people, and they signed a ‘manifest’ with community goals and ambitions. The community grew to 46 households on 30 floating buildings, including over 100 people.
Schoonschip was initiated in 2010 and established several legal entities to come fully into force, in which all inhabitants were a member of the process. The 46 floating houses are all interconnected by walkways and shared green spaces. The opposite side of the houses had rings that looped around
poles that are anchored to the river bed, and therefore when the water rises, the house would rise up from buoyant forces but not move away since they are anchored by the poles (see diagram). Funnily, when we walked around the houses, you could feel yourself tilting back and forth. It was fun!
Schoonschip's architecture embraces the fluctuation of water levels: when the water rises the houses will as well, defying the threat of extreme weather events. By cultivating a floating community model, Schoonschip showcases the resilience and adaptability required to harmonize with nature and defend against the unpredictable forces of the changing world.
Embracing Sustainable Energy at Every Turn:
At the core of Schoonschip's values lies a commitment to green sustainability. The architectural team (Space&Matter) used innovative water management systems to collect and purify rainwater for reuse, reducing strain on municipal resources. Prioritizing to minimize its energy consumption, they utilized energy-efficient equipment, proper insulation, applying passive solar heat, heat pumps, and solar boilers. Most units had green roofs, green gardens, and solar panels to increase self-power generation.
Here comes the most interesting part: the community runs on its own electricity grid, connected to the main smart grid that efficiently stores and distributes energy to different households based on usage. The smart grid electricity is stored in large batteries and is sometimes stored as heat in heat pump boilers. Appliances are controlled by the smart grid for optimal efficiency and advanced energy trade in the future. For example, the solar energy generated from one’s roof yesterday can be used to power someone else’s lights today. Schoonschip obtained an exemption from the Dutch Energy Law for experimentation purposes in 2016, making it possible to develop its private net under one grid connection without strong financial barriers. Thanks to that, from our exchanges with residents, we learned that households actually received much lower electricity bills overall.
Schoonschip consists of a well-advanced set of products and installations (for P2P trading):
502 PV panels, consisting over 150kWp of PV production
30+ solar collectors
30 investors (smart-grid-ready), and most sets include optimisers
Solar boilers
31 Heat pumps (smart-grid-ready)
30 batteries (7,5kW, smart-grid-ready)
Central EMS
Smart meters (multiple per building)
Community platform dashboard
The Power of Community Bonds:
Beyond its engineering marvels and architectural accomplishments, Schoonschip just works. It thrives on the strength of its community. Importantly, most of the members are owners of the collective infrastructure (jetties, electricity, water, drainage, battery, and vacuum infrastructure). Additionally, the residents foster a huge sense of togetherness and cooperation, creating a tight community. Through regular community meetings, everyone's voice is heard, and the neighborhood's future is shaped. The group shared green spaces, gardens, and floating pavilions as meeting locations. Interestingly, if you go to their website, each resident’s profile is listed.
During the development process, the group had to fill in a ‘sustainability checklist provided by the municipality. A higher score resulted in a higher chance to win the competition. The sustainability ambitions were extremely high, and therefore everyone had a maximum score. After winning the tender, they hired a sustainability consultancy party to create a report that indicated some aspects of measurements from the checklist to be undesired. The checklist however was already mandatory. Realizing this, municipality policy eventually even limited the high ambitions of this energy community. Schoonschip's remarkable sense of community empowers individuals to take collective action and mobilize members in communities to create similar bonds and embrace sustainability in their lives.
Summary:
Schoonschip represents a living laboratory and demonstrated an emphasis on energy efficiency, innovative urban planning, sustainable technologies, and community engagement, serving as a compass for developing neighborhoods. The neighborhood's success story serves as a beacon of inspiration for urban planners, engineers, and policymakers seeking to adapt the urban landscape in the face of climate change. Schoonschip is proof that community-led initiatives and open-minded policy-makers have the power to ignite hope and inspire communities to take charge of a sustainable future.
References:
https://www.archdaily.com/964050/amsterdams-floating-neighbourhood-schoonschip-offers-a-new-perspective-on-circularity-and-resiliency/60d8c96c447a92016532df78-amsterdams-floating-neighbourhood-schoonschip-offers-a-new-perspective-on-circularity-and-resiliency-photo
https://www.housingevolutions.eu/project/1798/
https://schoonschipamsterdam.org/en/
https://www.spaceandmatter.nl/work/schoonschip
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