A home for international students that energises the harbour area

Houthaven, in Amsterdam-West, is part of the Amsterdam docklands and hosts internationally renowned companies such as Universal Pictures and Tommy Hilfiger. The area is bustling by day, but very quiet by night. We identified and seized the opportunity to bring this area to life 24/7, 52 weeks a year, by developing a building for Student Experience: a hotel for international students.

We decided to develop a student residence that’s also open to neighbouring professionals. The Student Experience building will house 600 students and is therefore quite substantial. However, by opting for a layered and open design, it will feel robust yet friendly. The lobby and the rest of the ground floor will be accessible to everyone and offer a restaurant, a sports club and meeting rooms. The roof will be a collective area for tenants, offering private and communal terraces and even a basketball court. The area itself only welcomes projects that conform to the four-star BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology), one of the highest norms for sustainable building. This was a challenge we were only too happy to accept!