OMA completes De Rotterdam
22/11/2013.
OMA [Rotterdam] The Netherlands
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
OMA marks the completion of De Rotterdam, a mixed-use, 160,000m² slab-tower conceived as a 'vertical city' on the river Maas.
Night view. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Façade view. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Frontal with bridge vision. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Michel van de Kar.
Inside view on East tower. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Frontal view. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Charlie Koolhaas.
Streetview East . Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Philippe Ruault.
Streetview West . Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Philippe Ruault.
Upview. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
View on bridge. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Philippe Ruault.
North view bridge. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Frontal View Souht. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Philippe Ruault.
View on West Tower. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Philippe Ruault.
Atrium. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Frontal view. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Michel van de Kar.
Rijnhave. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Michel van de Kar.
Site map. Image courtesy OMA.
Models options. Image courtesy OMA.
Model Atrium. Image courtesy OMA.
Perspective Atrium Section. Image courtesy OMA.
Interior GF Materialization. Image courtesy OMA.
Program section. Image courtesy OMA.
Model. Image courtesy OMA.
Upview South. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Charlie Koolhaas.
West Tower Erasmus Tower. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
Evening view on bridge. Image courtesy of OMA; Photography © Ossip van Duivenbode.
With the building's completion, a critical mass has been established on the Kop van Zuid, realizing the long-established vision of a second city center south of the Maas. The building is named after one of the original ships on the Holland America Line, which from 1873 to the late 1970s transported thousands of emigrating Europeans bound for New York from the Wilhelmina Pier, next to which De Rotterdam is situated.
"Efficiency has been a central design parameter from day one. The extreme market forces at play throughout the course of the project, far from being a design constraint, have in fact reinforced our original concept. The result is a dense, vibrant building for the city."
Ellen van Loon
The three stacked and interconnecting towers of De Rotterdam rise 44 floors to a height of 150 meters and span a width of over 100 meters. Nevertheless, the building is exceptionally compact, with a mix of programs organized into distinct but overlapping blocks of commercial office space, residential apartments, hotel and conference facilities, restaurants and cafes. Office employees, residents and hotel guests are brought together in conference, sport and restaurant facilities. The building's shared plinth is the location of the lobbies to each of the towers, creating a pedestrianized public hub by means of a common hall.
"Despite its scale and apparent solidity, the building's shifted blocks create a constantly changing appearance, different from every part of the city. The fact that it stands today represents a small triumph of persistence for the city, the developer, the contractor and the architects."
Rem Koolhaas
The various phases of design and construction were supervised by partners-in-charge Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon and Reinier de Graaf, and associate-in-charge Kees van Casteren. De Rotterdam is developed by MAB Development and OVG Real Estate.
CREDITS
Project.- A mixed-use vertical city.
Status.- Commission 1997, groundbreaking December 2009, completion November 2013
Clients.- De Rotterdam CV, The Hague (Joint venture MAB, The Hague / OVG, Rotterdam).
Location.- Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Site.- Former harbour waterfront between KPN tower and Cruise Terminal at Kop van Zuid.
Program.- Total 162,000m²: offices 72,000m²; 240 apartments 34,5000m²; hotel (278 rooms) / congress / restaurant 19,000m2; retail / F&B 1,000m²; leisure 4,500m²; parking (approx. 650 vehicles) 31,000m²
More information
REM KOOLHAAS
Rem Koolhaas was born in Rotterdam in 1944. He began his career as a journalist, working for the Haagse Post, and as a set-designer in the Netherlands and Hollywood. He beganHe frequented the Architectural Association School in London and studied with Oswald Mathias Ungers at Cornell University. In 1978, he wrote Delirious New York: a retroactive manifesto for Manhattan, which has become a classic of contemporary architectural theory. In 1975 – together with Elia and Zoe Zenghelis and Madelon Vriesendorp – he founded OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture).
The most important works by Koolhaas and OMA, from its foundation until the mid-1990s, include the Netherlands Dance Theatre at The Hague, the Nexus Housing at Fukuoka in Japan, the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, the Grand Palais of Euralille and Lille, the Villa dall’Ava, the Très Grande Bibliothèque, the Jussieu library in Paris, the ZKM in Karlsruhe and the Seattle Public Library.
Together with Koolhaas’s reflections on contemporary society, these buildings appear in his second book, S,M,L,XL (1995), a volume of 1376 pages written as though it were a “novel about architecture”. Published in collaboration with the Canadian graphic designer, Bruce Mau, the book contains essays, manifestos, cartoons and travel diaries.
In 2005, with Mark Wigley and Ole Bouman, he was the founder to the prestigious Volume magazine, the result of a collaboration with Archis (Amsterdam), AMO and C-lab (Columbia University NY).
His built work includes the Qatar National Library and the Qatar Foundation Headquarters (2018), Fondation Galeries Lafayette in Paris (2018), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015/2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing (2012), Casa da Musica in Porto (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and the Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003). Current projects include the Taipei Performing Arts Centre, a new building for Axel Springer in Berlin, and the Factory in Manchester.
Koolhaas directed the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale and is a professor at Harvard University, where he directs The Project on the City, a research programme on changes in urban conditions around the world. This programme has conducted research on the delta of the Pearl River in China (entitled Great Leap Forward) and on consumer society (The Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping). Taschen Verlag has published the results. Now is preparing a major exhibition for the Guggenheim museum to open in 2019 entitled Countryside: Future of the World.
Among the awards he has won in recent years, we mention here the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize (2000), the Praemium Imperiale (2003), the Royal Gold Medal (2004) and the Mies Van Der Rohe prize (2005). In 2008, Time mentioned him among the 100 most influential people of the planet.
OMA. Office for Metropolitan Architecture
Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is a leading international partnership practising architecture, urbanism, and cultural analysis. OMA's buildings and masterplans around the world insist on intelligent forms while inventing new possibilities for content and everyday use. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia.
OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.
OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), Fondazione Prada in Milan (2015); G-Star Headquarters in Amsterdam (2014); Shenzhen Stock Exchange (2013); De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), New Court, the headquarters for Rothschild Bank in London (2011); Milstein Hall at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (2011); and Maggie's Centre, a cancer care centre in Glasgow (2011). Earlier buildings include Casa da Música in Porto (2005), Seattle Central Library (2004), and Netherlands Embassy in Berlin (2003).
