On a cold winter day, she visited a floating house powered by solar panels. “Before, I wasn’t aware that I didn’t appreciate my way of life,” she says. When she asked friends if they would like to build a floating neighborhood, Marjan didn’t expect so many answers. She narrowed the list down to 120 people. She then patrolled around Buiksloterham, a 100ha industrial estate partly abandoned following companies (including Shell and the Fokker aircraft factory) left in the second half of the 20th century for lower-wage countries. When she learned that the city planned to develop tens of thousands of homes in this area, she understood that they might be pioneers in this place.
In Buiksloterham, the 22-storey Shell Tower has been renamed the Amsterdam Dance and Music Tower, with dance clubs, a revolving restaurant and an open terrace. The Overhoeks promenade, where executions took place from the 15th to the 18th century, is home to the imposing and modern Eye Film Museum.
When the word “Schoonschip” becomes a verb, “to make schoonschip”, it means “to purify”. To make it clear that they were creating a new kind of neighborhood, Marjan got all the residents to sign a manifesto in which everyone pledged to build, insulate and finish their houses with ecological materials such as straw, jute and bamboo. They have also committed, more informally, to eating and swimming together, and living largely in plain sight of each other.
If the district gives the impression of a permanent party, it is mainly because many inhabitants are actually Marjan’s friends, or friends of friends. Most of them joined the project in their twenties or thirties, when they had no children and time to invest in creating a living environment. Twelve years later, these young couples have started families.
In the summer, their children jump from their bedroom windows straight into the water below. On beautiful winter evenings, the neighborhood shines with a soft light and buzzes with the conversations of the inhabitants on their terraces.
To accomplish Schoonschip’s sustainability goals, Marjan engages directly with residents. Siti Boelen, a television producer, served as a mediator between the committee of Schoonschip representatives and the municipality. Sascha Glasl, the architect, helped design the jetty that connects the houses to each other and to the land.
