Ilmeerjin M55 Metro Connection

Location: Amsterdamand Almere, NL
Client: Operating Company Almere Amsterdam (WAA).
Scale: 25,000 homes, 3,000 on new island, 3 new metro stations
Design Team: BACA architects

Background

A visionary infrastructure and urban regeneration project, the Almere–Amsterdam Metro Link aims to connect eastern Amsterdam with Almere through a new 20km metro line, unlocking the development of over 25,000 new homes and establishing a sustainable model for future growth in the Netherlands.

Commissioned by the Operating Company Almere Amsterdam (WAA), and developed by an international consortium led by Mott MacDonald Netherlands, with BACA architects as key design partners, the project responds to the pressing need for high-quality, climate-resilient urban expansion.

Similar in scale and ambition to London’s Crossrail, the scheme integrates transport, ecology, and architecture to support new waterside communities while preserving the delicate landscape of the IJmeer lake.

Process

We worked collaboratively with engineers and planners to test the feasibility of the metro connection and develop spatial and architectural concepts for the emerging districts at Almere Pampus and the new Pampus Island.

The consortium’s work centred on four guiding principles: enhancing riverside leisure, achieving architectural distinction, protecting ecology, and promoting zero-carbon living.

Our contribution focused on designing the sail and ride station, the world’s first transport interchange combining sailing and metro travel alongside masterplanning for the island and new housing districts.

The design process embraced advanced environmental modelling, landscape integration, and material life-cycle assessments, ensuring the project aligned with cradle-to-cradle principles and national sustainability targets.

Collaboration with Zwarts and Jansma Architekten provided architectural cohesion across infrastructure and public realm, while landscape ecologists helped shape the project’s biodiverse shoreline environments.

Architecture

At the heart of the proposal lies a 9km underwater tunnel beneath the IJmeer, preserving navigational routes and panoramic views while minimising environmental disruption.

Each end of the tunnel will emerge through bio-engineered portals, one forming a wetlands archipelago, the other sculpted into coastal dunes and a beachfront promenade.

Above ground, a new sustainable island will be created from tunnel excavations, its form shaped by river dynamics into a series of “outdoor rooms” that host sports, leisure, and ecological habitats.

The sail and ride station acts as a striking architectural landmark and hub for both commuters and recreational visitors, merging land and water mobility in a single civic space.

Surrounding developments combine housing, leisure, and ecological corridors in a flowing, low-carbon landscape, showcasing how infrastructure, architecture, and nature can coexist to define a resilient, 21st-century Dutch waterfront.