During the opening of SAWA, performed by Her Majesty Queen Máxima, we told the story of this building through six short videos. Not a traditional presentation, but personal stories about why SAWA was created, what it means to the residents, and how the ambitions come together in practice.
In this video series, we look back on that special day and take you step by step through SAWA’s core values: from climate and timber construction to social inclusivity, biodiversity, and community. Together, these videos show that building differently is not only necessary but also visibly contributes to a livable city, strong communities, and more space for nature. We will be sharing the videos one by one in the coming period.
Video 1 – Reason & initiative: why SAWA?
Climate, CO₂ reduction, and timber construction
SAWA began with a simple but urgent question from the founders of NICE Developers, Robert Winkel and Mark Compeer: what can we, here and now, do for our neighborhood and for the climate?
As local residents, they saw the Lloydpier—a stony place—and this last vacant plot as an opportunity to do things differently. Their commitment gave rise to the initiative to develop a building that contributes to CO₂ reduction and accelerates the transition in construction: from concrete to biobased.
In collaboration with ERA Contour (Bianca Seekles and Jeroen Heijdra), this developed into a plan with multiple ambitions: not only climate-friendly, but also circular, socially inclusive, nature-inclusive, and community-oriented.
Watch the first video in the series SAWA — Living together, building together, celebrating together:
