De Rotterdam, Netherlands

De Rotterdam, a 150m-tall three-tower building, is a multifunctional piece of architecture. Construction of the Netherland's tallest building, designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, is scheduled to begin by December 2009.

At an estimated cost of €340m, construction of the building will be undertaken by MAB Development, OVG Project Development and the Office of the Metropolitan Architecture (OMA). Work on the building is expected to be completed within 45 months.

De Rotterdam will include 72,000m² of office area, 220 residential apartments occupying 35,000m² and a hotel with an area of 19,000m². Nearly 70% of the building has already been sold. Amvest, a developer, has bought the residential complex while the hotel has been purchased by NH Hoteles.

Located next to the Erasmus Bridge on the banks of the River Maas, De Rotterdam will be part of the continuous redevelopment undertaken at the old harbour district of Wilhelminapier. The building is named after the Holland America Line ship that transported thousands of European immigrants from Wilhelminapier to the US. The name holds significance as the building is located besides the departure point of the ship, between the KPN tower and the cruise ship terminal at Kop van Zuid.

De Rotterdam design

De Rotterdam will be a combination of three interconnected towers. Reaching 150m in height, the towers will spread 160,000m² and encompass a hybrid design. Architecture of the building will be guided by modern density and diversity.

The towers will be arranged in a stack of distinct blocks, forming a slightly irregular cluster. Sections of the building will be half-way up creating a random composition. Access to each programme and different sections of the building is available through three access cores.

The design offers a captivating 360°view of the skyline and the river. Different programmes would provide clarity and synergy. The building's power supply will come from energy generated using the water of Mass and the soil.

The housing tower consists of 44 floors. The tower dedicated for office use will comprise 40 floors, while the hotel tower will be of 42 floors. Steel transfer structures will be used to make the concrete columns and floors.

Contractors

The project is being developed by MAB Development working closely with OMA. MAB is a European commercial real estate developer that has constructed several multiuse city centre projects. Other parties involved in the construction include Dutch real estate developer OVG.

Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, and Ellen van Loon are the partners in charge. Structural design services is provided by Corsmit and Rijswijk. Services engineers include Techniplan, Rotterdam, Valstar Simonis and Rijswijk. The façades will be provided by Permasteelisa, Middelburg, TGM and Asten. Fire safety / building physics will be provided by DGMR, Arnhem

Facilities

The proposed building includes living, working, shopping and leisure facilities to be used by nearly 3,000 to 4,000 people on a daily basis. An 6,000m² area is allocated for retail and public use and 2,000m² for fitness facility. Parking on an area of 25,000m² accommodates 650 vehicles. The hotel will have 280 rooms, a conference centre and a restaurant.

The ground floor of the building would be used for public facilities, including a long elevated public lobby extending 700m², located at the centre. The lobby would be used as a hub for users of all the functions in the building.

Façade

De Rotterdam will have a glass façade with vertical aluminium mullions, to accommodate the varied requirements of each programme. The depth of the mullions will be 150mm while the grid will be 900mm. The maximum glass percentage, width of the mullions, floor height and spandrel height would differ depending on each programme. The façade of the housing tower will consist of sliding doors and windows while low-rise offices and hotel facades will have operable mullions.

Construction of the façades will take place unit by unit. A typical façade unit will be 1,800mm wide and one storey high.