Harbour Commons
Harbour Commons is a mixed-use waterfront building that brings work, learning, and neighbourhood life together around a generous public room.
Workplace
Civic & Cultural
Research & Strategy
Year:
2025
Client:
Harbour & Quay
Duration:
18 months
Area:
2,650
SQM
Harbour Commons
Harbour Commons is a mixed-use waterfront building that brings work, learning, and neighbourhood life together around a generous public room.
Workplace
Civic & Cultural
Research & Strategy
Year:
2025
Client:
Harbour & Quay
Duration:
18 months
Area:
2,650
SQM
Harbour Commons
Harbour Commons is a mixed-use waterfront building that brings work, learning, and neighbourhood life together around a generous public room.
Workplace
Civic & Cultural
Research & Strategy
Year:
2025
Client:
Harbour & Quay
Duration:
18 months
Area:
2,650
SQM
Project team
Matthias Vogel
Partner, Urban Strategy
Clara van der Meer
Partner, Architecture
Brief
A mixed-use waterfront building where work, learning, and neighbourhood life share one generous ground floor. Its sheltered public room extends the harbour edge into the city.
Site & context
The project sits at the meeting point of a working harbour and an expanding Amsterdam district. Its ground floor addresses the water directly, while upper levels mediate between civic activity and focused work.
Concept
The building is organised around a sheltered commons rather than a conventional lobby. A continuous internal street connects workshops, meeting rooms, terraces, and spaces that can change use throughout the day.
Materiality & construction
Reclaimed brick, robust timber, and a clear structural grid give the building a familiar but contemporary character. Sliding screens and durable floor finishes allow the commons to adjust without losing its sense of order.
Sustainability
The existing edge condition is retained and strengthened instead of replaced. Passive daylighting, natural ventilation where possible, adaptable floor plates, and low-impact reclaimed materials support a long working life.
Outcome
Harbour Commons extends the public life of the waterfront into the building. It gives a growing neighbourhood a place to work, meet, and learn without asking each activity to occupy a separate world.
Project team
Matthias Vogel
Partner, Urban Strategy
Clara van der Meer
Partner, Architecture
Brief
A mixed-use waterfront building where work, learning, and neighbourhood life share one generous ground floor. Its sheltered public room extends the harbour edge into the city.
Site & context
The project sits at the meeting point of a working harbour and an expanding Amsterdam district. Its ground floor addresses the water directly, while upper levels mediate between civic activity and focused work.
Concept
The building is organised around a sheltered commons rather than a conventional lobby. A continuous internal street connects workshops, meeting rooms, terraces, and spaces that can change use throughout the day.
Materiality & construction
Reclaimed brick, robust timber, and a clear structural grid give the building a familiar but contemporary character. Sliding screens and durable floor finishes allow the commons to adjust without losing its sense of order.
Sustainability
The existing edge condition is retained and strengthened instead of replaced. Passive daylighting, natural ventilation where possible, adaptable floor plates, and low-impact reclaimed materials support a long working life.
Outcome
Harbour Commons extends the public life of the waterfront into the building. It gives a growing neighbourhood a place to work, meet, and learn without asking each activity to occupy a separate world.
Project team
Matthias Vogel
Partner, Urban Strategy
Clara van der Meer
Partner, Architecture
Brief
A mixed-use waterfront building where work, learning, and neighbourhood life share one generous ground floor. Its sheltered public room extends the harbour edge into the city.
Site & context
The project sits at the meeting point of a working harbour and an expanding Amsterdam district. Its ground floor addresses the water directly, while upper levels mediate between civic activity and focused work.
Concept
The building is organised around a sheltered commons rather than a conventional lobby. A continuous internal street connects workshops, meeting rooms, terraces, and spaces that can change use throughout the day.
Materiality & construction
Reclaimed brick, robust timber, and a clear structural grid give the building a familiar but contemporary character. Sliding screens and durable floor finishes allow the commons to adjust without losing its sense of order.
Sustainability
The existing edge condition is retained and strengthened instead of replaced. Passive daylighting, natural ventilation where possible, adaptable floor plates, and low-impact reclaimed materials support a long working life.
Outcome
Harbour Commons extends the public life of the waterfront into the building. It gives a growing neighbourhood a place to work, meet, and learn without asking each activity to occupy a separate world.
Stats
By the numbers
Early monitoring from the first full year of occupation.
Carbon avoided
Emissions avoided by leaving things alone
Lowest recorded
CO₂e/m², by repairing rather than replacing
Energy in use
Below the model, in a sector that overshoots
Stats
By the numbers
Early monitoring from the first full year of occupation.
Carbon avoided
Emissions avoided by leaving things alone
Lowest recorded
CO₂e/m², by repairing rather than replacing
Energy in use
Below the model, in a sector that overshoots
Stats
By the numbers
Early monitoring from the first full year of occupation.
Carbon avoided
Emissions avoided by leaving things alone
Lowest recorded
CO₂e/m², by repairing rather than replacing
Energy in use
Below the model, in a sector that overshoots
Alina Petrescu
Portfolio Lead
Alina Petrescu
Portfolio Lead
Alina Petrescu
Portfolio Lead
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What are you building?
Housing, a school, a clinic, a warehouse you've just bought. Start anywhere.
What are you building?
Housing, a school, a clinic, a warehouse you've just bought. Start anywhere.
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New journal pieces, projects reaching completion, and roles we're hiring for.