Tower Hoge Heren in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Wiel Arets

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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Tower Hoge Heren in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by Wiel Arets Architects

February 24th, 2012 by Sumit Singhal

Article source: Wiel Arets Architects

The structure of the two residential blocks is an intervention in the centre of Rotterdam, a city that is naturally incised by a network of flowing waters. The site of the project is an old commercial trade grounds. The emerging scenery is therefore one of compatibility, and the coexistence of the old and the new.

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Architects: Wiel Arets Architects
Project: Tower Hoge Heren
Location: Zalmhaven, site nearby the river the Maas in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Project Team: Wiel Arets, René Thijssen, Henrik Vuust
Collaborators: Harold Aspers, Paul van Dongen, Lars Dreessen, Harold Hermans, Michel Melenhorst, Michiel Vrehen
Site Supervisors: PRC Bouwcentrum
Date of design: 1993
Date of completion: 2001

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Models: Paul Egers
Photographs: Hélène Binet, Kim Zwarts, Axel Hütte, Jan Bitter
Client: ABP, Vesteda
Program: 285 apartments, 5 penthouses, grand café, parking, swimming pool, sauna, fitness, lobby
Area: 35.840 m2
Building physics consultant: Cauberg-Huygen Raadgevende Ingenieurs bv
Structural engineer : C. van Ruitenberg bv
Building contractor: Wilma Bom bv, Rotterdam
Prefab facade: Loveld

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

The first incision in the body of the structure is the new bridge that functions not only as a linkage between both sides of the river Promenade but also as an object that separates the two towers by creating a vertical void between the them.

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

The massiveness of the volume is negated by the introduction of a glass wedge that creates a panorama of floating towers, which are apparently disobeying the logic of gravity. The residual spaces are well organized to accommodate the parking spaces, the hall of the towers, the grand cafe and the technical rooms.

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Stacked onto the top of the glass wedge is the hovering volume skinned in black concrete mantle. It contains the communal parking places, the storage levels and the lobbies of the towers. Standing prominently on top of this volume and projecting vertically into the blue sky are the two towers. They are composed of 290 apartments stacked into 29 storys.

Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

: Image Courtesy Jan Bitter

Contact Wiel Arets Architects

Tags: Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Categories: Residential, Tower

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