An award-winning building for the neighbourhood: meet the Smaragd. The building that transformed the eastern neighborhood in Amsterdam. There are 102 homes, catering spaces, office spaces and a parking garage designed by M3H. Fun fact: our office is in this building as well!

The Smaragd is a subtle reference to the architectural style the Amsterdam School; a popular architectural style in Amsterdam from the last century. The project was the winner of the Zuiderkerk Prize 2016. According to the jury, this building is an example project of how to build in the densified city. “The jury sincerely hopes that M3H Architecten will use this to tell the story about De Smaragd very often in different contexts. This can contribute to the discussion about how such high-quality housing projects, for different kind of residents, can be realized in difficult neighborhoods in the future.”

The project is located in an architecturally historically very interesting place. It’s on the transition between the buildings from the 19th century and from the 1920s and 1940s. Different time periods and architectural styles come together here. It was a challenge to create a facade that could represent this transition well. The building looks like a sculpture because of the raised head, with a large overhang and the rounded corners. This elevated head, together with the buildings on the other side, forms the gateway to the neighbourhood.

During the design phase, the architects consulted a lot with local residents. The execution was done in close cooperation with the contractor in a construction team.