Brasa Village: prefab homes with bamboo cladding

At the edge of Brasa Park in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, Brasa Village combines off-site building with a durable bamboo facade in a new neighbourhood of prefab homes. Brasa Village is a flexible housing neighbourhood of 520 homes in the H-buurt of Amsterdam-Zuidoost, built by the housing corporations Ymere, Eigen Haard, and Rochdale together with the city of Amsterdam. Designed for a fifteen-year stay on a temporary site, the homes are relocatable afterwards. Assembled almost entirely from factory-finished modules, the neighbourhood took only a year to complete on the ground.

FARO Architecten developed the urban plan and, in close collaboration with Homes Factory, designed five blocks totalling 170 homes. The starting point was respect for the natural setting and a clear connection to Brasa Park, with sunlit outdoor spaces and shared communal areas built into each block. This approach gives permanent-housing quality on a site set aside only temporarily.

Prefab building with Bamboo X-treme cladding

Off-site building places real demands on a facade. The cladding has to be applied in the factory, survive transport and lifting, then perform outdoors for fifteen years with no recoating cycle and little maintenance once residents move in. To meet those demands on its five blocks, FARO specified MOSO^® Bamboo X-treme cladding, supplied by Awood and prefab-mounted by Homes Factory.

MOSO^® Bamboo X-treme does not need oiling or repainting, and over time it weathers to a natural silver-grey. It carries a 25-year guarantee, so the facade comfortably outlasts the building’s time at this site, reinforcing the project’s durable approach. All MOSO^® Bamboo products are FSC-certified, supporting responsible material choices.