Amsterdam

As part of a vision for clearer air in the city center, Amsterdam’s fire department is moving ahead with testing of an electric fire truck, with a diesel-powered generator also on board should operators need to call on extra firepower.

Take a walk along the canal in Amsterdam’s Westerdok district, and you may see an unsightly mess of waste gathered at the edge of the canal. What you’re seeing is the work of a new bubble barrier, designed to stop plastic waste flowing out to sea.

MIT’s Roboats have now been demonstrated arranging themselves into shapes that could one day form floating bridges and stages.

High-profile Dutch firm MVRDV has been commissioned to design a new office and laboratory in Amsterdam named Matrix 1. The building will boast significant sustainable features, including solar power and a partially green roof.

MIT has unveiled the latest version of the robotic boats it is developing for Amsterdam that are intended to help move passengers and goods along the city's 165 canals in the near future. The new iteration of these "Roboats" has been given the ability to locate and dock with one another.

​The canals of Amsterdam are an iconic part of the city’s landscape, and the transformed stations once used to control their traffic are now serving as an intimate way to experience them, offering unique waterfront accommodation with a historical flavor. ​

The RoBoat project is planning to get autonomous boats on the waters to ferry passengers and cargo, join together to form temporary floating structures, and monitor the environment. Now the design has been tweaked to be make them smarter, more agile and easier to manufacture.

​A set of upcycled shipping containers have breathed new life into a derelict and underused space at Amsterdam Science Park, stacking together to form a new co-working space for budding entrepreneurs called Startup Village.

Last month, New Atlas took the opportunity to explore just some of Amsterdam's modern architectural highlights, taking in museums, apartment blocks, bridges and bicycle parks along the way. We've put together a gallery of what we saw in a city at the forefront of contemporary building design.​

Yays Concierged Boutique Apartments, working with designer Edward van Vliet, has turned a 1950s crane in Amsterdam into a serviced apartment. The project makes use of the original crane operator’s huts, and offers a great view of the surrounding area.

Patch22 offers a persuasive argument for the use of wood in tall building construction. Located in Amsterdam, the wooden high rise ticks all the right boxes: inviting, sustainable and above all flexible, its easily-changed interiors even allow residents to put their bathtubs on the balconies.

BIG and Barcode Architects have designed a mixed-use project for a lake in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, that will include zero-energy residences and be accessible by boat, car, and foot. The design brings to mind BIG's Via 57 West, in the way it riffs on the classic European courtyard building.