Amsterdam’s Zuidas district has long been a symbol of ambition, known for its huge glass towers and fast-moving careers. Yet ask almost any Amsterdammer, and you’ll hear the same thing: it’s not the kind of place you go for a stroll, or to bump into your neighbour, or to enjoy anything resembling a village atmosphere.
With that in mind, it seems that DNCO had something of an impossible task when they were brought in to support the transformation of the former ABN AMRO headquarters into a lively mix of homes, workspaces and neighbourhood streets.
Their challenge was to turn a business monolith into somewhere people might actually want to live. It turned out that the solution all started with listening.
Partnering with Victory and LMTD, DNCO spent time on the ground, conducting on-street intercepts, hosting workshops and speaking directly with residents and stakeholders.
Hundreds of people contributed perspectives through an online survey. What surfaced was a frank consensus that Zuidas was “just business,” a place “for suits, heels and ties,” and nowhere near as warm or human as the rest of Amsterdam.
With that candour came an opportunity to shift perceptions. The client’s vision was already setting the stage for a new kind of urban experience, built around intimate streets and green spaces.
DNCO’s job was articulating this in a way the community could immediately understand.
What the team created was a simple, slightly unexpected line – a village for Zuidas – that underpins the entire identity.
Having a bit more clarity gave rise to a new name, too. Joy Nazzari, DNCO’s founder and executive chair, explains: “The name we came up with is Zudo, a portmanteau of Zuidas and dorp.” She adds that the positioning line “‘A village for Zuidas’ explains the intent our client is bringing for this otherwise rather dry and intense business area.”
In practice, the identity plays with duality because of that ‘business district meets neighbourhood life’ positioning. DNCO also developed a bilingual narrative across Dutch and English, swapping similar-sounding words between the two languages to create what they call a “destandardised” tone of voice. The idea was to develop something playful without being flippant that speaks directly to the area’s multilingual audience.
DNCO collaborated with Amsterdam-based foundry Bold Decisions to design a bespoke stencil typeface combining serif and sans-serif elements. Joy describes it as “half serif, half sans, to reflect the adaptive reuse in the masterplan but also to give it a bit of unique charm.” It sits comfortably alongside the development’s architectural ambition while still feeling approachable.
Illustrations by Luis Mendo add another layer of warmth. Rather than depicting a glossy future, the scenes focus on the everyday, like tulips, a bruin café, and a neighbourhood baker.
They encourage viewers to get lost in the details, suggesting a district made rich by people rather than corporate façades. The wider layout system draws on cues from village noticeboards, where overlapping elements subtly hint at community life.
Since a soft launch in Amsterdam, the identity has been embraced by the municipality, Zuidas residents and the wider city. As Joy notes, the project features “really charming illustrations”, a distinctive voice, and a fresh idea for what Zuidas could be next.
