This regeneration plan for two former wharves in the eastern part of the city docklands was commissioned directly by the city government of Amsterdam. The large scale of the docks was to be exploited for water-related activities, but also to provide 2500 low-rise dwellings (a density of approximately 4 units per acre). These points of departure presented a fascinating and unique opportunity for urban experiment. Urban designers West 8 developed new types of three-storey terraced houses, unusual in that their outdoor spaces are entirely within the volume of the building. These take the form of courtyards, patios, and roof-gardens, and permit a variety of uses for the spaces of each building. A great deal of what would normally be designed as public space was instead included within the plots to be developed. The result is generous and airy living spaces that communicate directly with lively and intimate urban streets.

This basic building type is repeated in a great variety of dwelling modes (from social housing to exclusive apartments), and with maximum variation in architectural design between different buildings. The flexibility of the domestic spaces has also permitted a multiplicity of uses as small work-spaces. In this way the new quayside town reconciles the individuality and difference of the buildings and their occupants with the collective and shared urban space of the street. The concentration and enclosure of the public space has paradoxically given it an intensity which, together with the social mix of uses, have secured this district as a vital and working part of the city.