Photo by Sebastian van Damme
Jonas is a 'mixed-use' landscape residential building shaped like a sculptural whale. It was named BNA’s Best Building of 2023 and recently won the 2024 Concrete Award. This bold complex with an inviting heart is located at the IJburg harbor in Amsterdam. The shared ambition of the developer and project team was to create a residential building that is highly sustainable in both technical and social aspects.
And they succeeded: Jonas received the highest achievable sustainability certification, BREEAM Outstanding. ABT was responsible for the integrated engineering, sustainability consulting, and architectural development based on the design by Orange Architects. Jonas consists of 83 owner-occupied apartments, 190 rental apartments, and various communal facilities. The building offers numerous shared amenities, including a restaurant, a cinema, a living room, a relaxation area, workspaces, guest rooms, a forest patio, a rooftop beach, and shared cars. These facilities are available for residents and, in part, for the surrounding community. Jonas represents a new way of living: conscious, sustainable, and socially connected. It is all about meeting, connecting, and fostering a strong community.
Significantly Lower Environmental Impact
Traditionally, constructions like this are made of concrete. In this case, sustainability was a key focus, for example, by replacing a quarter of the aggregate with recycled demolition concrete. As a result, the environmental impact of the concrete structure is up to 30% lower than that of a comparable residential building. This was made possible by making sustainable design choices at an early stage, such as using thinner floors.
The extensive greenery, energy-efficient installations, and sustainable materials make Jonas a healthy and light-filled building. Its sustainability ambitions are visible everywhere—from the use of natural materials in the finishing to the connection to the district heating network, the use of heat pumps and PV panels, and the maximization of daylight through a glass roof. Even rainwater is reused for sanitation and cooling. A particularly remarkable feature is the rooftop garden, where residents can enjoy a thin layer of flowing water on the glass roof while looking down onto all floors below. Sustainability is, after all, also about creating a healthy living environment.
Innovations in Sustainable Concrete
The concrete mix used for Jonas falls into Category A (see the image below). In the coming years, the sustainability ambitions for buildings like this will continue to evolve. This will be made possible through the increased use of secondary materials from demolition concrete and the development of new binder technologies, such as geopolymer concrete or even bio-based concrete. Experiments with geopolymer concrete have already achieved a 75% CO₂ reduction. Additionally, there is potential to increase the proportion of secondary materials to over 50%, depending on future regulations. However, the environmental impact must always be balanced with the performance of the necessary binders. Finally, it is important to recognize that structural sustainability is not just about material choices. It also involves the design of the load-bearing structure, such as creating adaptive or demountable frameworks. Structural engineers and concrete technologists play a crucial role in these developments.
Interested in a career or internship at ABT as a structural engineer, geotechnical engineer, or concrete technologist? Check out our vacancies here:
Kwalificering van betonmengsels conform Low Carbon Concrete Routemap, bron: ice.org.uk 27-04-2022