Researchers spot hundreds of rooftop spaces for housing in Amsterdam’s historic center
Researchers have mapped numerous unused rooftop and building spaces in Amsterdam’s historic center, highlighting opportunities to create additional housing in a city struggling with a "chronic shortage," Het Parool reports.
René Boer and Michiel van Iersel, working with the cultural transformation practice Loom, focused on the Wallen and surrounding areas, identifying “unused residual space” on existing structures that could accommodate new homes. One prominent example is above the famed Nam Kee restaurant near the Zeedijk, where only a single floor exists, despite neighboring buildings rising multiple stories. “Why aren’t extra homes built on top? This is an ideal location,” Boer told Het Parool.
In the first phase of their “Opwallen” project, the researchers cataloged 26 vacant or underused building sites, totaling approximately 4,200 square meters—enough space to create roughly 100 compact apartments.
Van Iersel emphasized, “There is empty space, but actually filling it with housing is complicated in practice.” Boer added, “It’s not our space; property owners and current users decide what happens. We want to make them aware that this space exists and can be used differently—perhaps for housing.”
The initiative is being showcased in a pop-up exhibition from Friday through Sunday at Oudezijds Achterburgwal 136, featuring proposals from four Amsterdam design firms for repurposing these spaces.
The researchers caution that adding floors in the Wallen requires careful planning. A partially flat roof on Molensteeg, for example, sits above a closed casino and adjacent peep-room windows. Expanding upward could block light or views for nearby residents, researchers say.
Boer said, “In the Chinese neighborhood, you need to work almost like an acupuncturist—who wants what, and can it be done?” Van Iersel added, “If rooftop additions are possible here, in one of the city’s oldest districts, then other neighborhoods may also hold potential. Our project could serve as a symbol for broader opportunities.”
Additionally, a recent analysis by Savills and other real estate advisers found that nearly 700 postwar buildings in Amsterdam, constructed between 1945 and 1974, could support additional floors, potentially creating 7,000 new homes—enough to reduce the city’s housing shortage by 9 percent.
