The concept was inspired by an MKA-designed residential retrofit, House like village, of an industrial harbour building in 2011, and was then applied to an experimental development called Casco Lofts located in the Houthavens, Amsterdam. The demand for this project was so high that MKA was awarded more plots in Houthavens, resulting to Superlofts. The project was a huge success despite being built at the height of the financial crisis in 2012. Soon after, new Superlofts were commissioned in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Almere. Currently, new Superlofts are being built in Amsterdam, Delft, Almere and Groningen and abroad, each project further improving the concept.

Superlofts are designed as Open Buildings that separate the permanent support structure from the temporary infills, utilising a flexible and open framework that easily adapts to changing cycles of use and maintenance. This facilitates a circular way of building and, importantly, contributes to resilient cities that can accommodate the changing urban programmes and lifestyles of the people who inhabit them. Each project integrates the latest sustainable technologies that support efficient and healthy buildings in the long term.

A prefabricated concrete base structure provides a framework of three- to six-metre-high modules that can be flexibly combined into housing blocks, slabs, high-rises or townhouses. Our clients can customise each building into a unique configuration, with different loft types.

Superlofts provides new forms of shared living where people benefit from living together in an ‘urban village’, addressing the need for real social networks and a sense of belonging in a highly individualised society. The dynamic mix of loft types promotes a diverse, inclusive and open residential mixed community.

The ambition is to expand from a residential co-operative buyer’s model to a mixed-use and mixed ownership (rental and buyers) model, extending from XS apartments for young urban pioneers to XL homes for families, and connecting them into different countries.

With five Superlofts completed, three projects under construction and seven international sites in research, the aim is to connect all Superlofts, and their members, into one dynamic global community.