De Ceuvel

What: De Ceuvel is an award-winning, sustainably planned workplace for creative and social enterprises on a former shipyard adjacent to the Johan van Hasselt Kanaal off the River IJ in Amsterdam North. The site hosts creative workspaces, a podium, a sustainable café, rentable meeting spaces, and, in the near future, a floating hotel. The former industrial plot is now a thriving community of entrepreneurs and artists, where everyone involved has contributed to building Amsterdam’s first circular office park. How: In 2012, the land was secured on a 10-year lease from the Municipality of Amsterdam after a group of architects won a tender to transform the site into a regenerative urban oasis. On the former shipyard, old houseboats have been placed on heavily polluted soil, and the workspaces have been outfitted with clean technologies. Everything is connected by a winding jetty. Around the houseboats, phyto-remediating plants work to clean the soil. Through experimentation, we aim to be as energy self-sufficient as possible and process our own waste in new, innovative ways. Why: De Ceuvel is not only a “forbidden garden” that will leave behind cleaner soil but also a playground for sustainable technologies. The goal is to create a regenerative urban space where sustainable practices thrive and help reduce environmental impact while fostering creativity and collaboration.