IKC Weespertrekvaart
Amsterdam, NL
Location: Weespertrekvaart, Amsterdam, NL
Year: 2023 - ongoing
Site Footprint: 1.635 m2
FSI Netto: 2.1
Gross Floor Area: 3.432m2
Parking: -
Outdoor Play Area: 300 m2
Client: STAIJ Amsterdam
Building physics: Adviesbureau Sijperda-Hardy
Structural Engineer: Berkhout Tros Bouwadviseurs
Installations: Adviesbureau Sijperda-Hardy
Cost Analysis: Bouwkostenadvies T.M. Laan
Landscape design: Moss
Weespertrekvaart in Amsterdam is a major urban transformation area. On Plot 1 a multifunctional development anchors the new neighbourhood: Plot 1A hosts IKC Weespertrekvaart as an “all-in-one school”, while Plot 1B combines social and commercial functions with two residential blocks above. An Integrated Child Center (IKC) brings together a primary school, daycare, after-school care, playgroup and a public sports hall under one roof, enabling shared facilities and a strong community identity. Because the outdoor space directly next to the school is limited, the public square at the front and the roofscape become essential extensions of daily learning—green, playable places that support safe arrival, informal meeting and outdoor education. In this compact setting, the building must work as city piece and campus at once, every day.
Our design reinvents the IKC as a community facility for people and nature: a healthy urban learning landscape that invites movement, daylight and shared use. The identity draws on the industrial past of the Weespertrekvaart—an efficient construction logic, a flexible grid and demountable metal façade technology, paired with timber interiors. Nature-inclusivity is integral: water absorption and retention, biodiversity, educational urban agriculture, heat reduction and natural cooling are embedded in roof and façade design. All users enter through a main entrance and a logical stacking of functions, strengthening community and wayfinding. A generous foyer supports gathering, while a playful grandstand stair forms the social heart. Roofs provide substantial soil depth, are at least 60% unpaved, and integrate nesting boxes and vegetated façades facing the inner garden.
