Staetendam Laurensquarter - Rotterdam

Client:

OVG Project development

Project location:

Binnenrotte & Botersloot, Rotterdam

Duration:

1998-2009

Programm:

17.000 m2 Residential and Commercial spaces

In the old city centre, facing the Laurens Church, Kollhoff & Pols together with Christian Rapp designed the masterplan for a comprehensive restructuring containing a residential tower and office complex. Orig­i­nal­ly, there was a high-​rise of­fice tower with a façade of pre-​fab­ri­cat­ed con­crete blocks on an oc­tag­o­nal base. On the existing oc­tag­o­nal foundation, a new tower was built where the up­per floors are can­tilevered and pro­ject in­to the pub­lic space with bay win­dows. To give the tower, restricted in height to 70 meter in consideration of the Laurens Church, its slender character, the corners where designed as four brick tow­ers each cul­mi­nat­ing in gables with arched win­dows. The blue­stone base aims for mono­lith­ic uni­ty in or­der to en­sure cred­i­ble tec­ton­ic mas­tery of the wide­ly can­tilevered cor­ners. 

The master plan is an urban transformation at block level. The neighbouring monumental building from the 1940’s was renovated in conjunction with the new tower, creating a new and open ensemble. The site was a piece of no man’s land with closed facades in the middle of the city. The place has been given back to the people of Rotterdam. Extensive thought has been given to redistributing functions and cutting the large building block into smaller units, creating new connections and walking routes and making the site viable for the future. By applying heat and cold storage in the soil and other energy-saving technologies, the project has also changed direction in the field of sustainable construction.