Developer Multi Development and The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) today presented the revolutionary concept design for an innovative mixed-use building situated in the heart of Rotterdam’s shopping district, the Coolsingel. It will create a unique connection between Lijnbaan, Binnenwegplein and Beurstraverse. A historic ABN AMRO building is integrated in the 120.000mē project that offers approximately 30.000mē of retail and 75.000mē of office, residential, culture and leisure space. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2011, opening in 2013. The investment value is Euro 500 million.
Alderman Karakus in a first reaction said to find the design of Koolhaas to be an asset for the city. “This is what we need in Rotterdam. It is innovative, it is unique and it confirms our reputation as the city of architecture in the Netherlands.”
Rather than a tower project competing for height, this design aims to reconfigure the identity of the city center by inserting a pure form of a cube to spatially reorganize its external context and generate floor surfaces to allow for a wide range of public programs. Systems of voids within the cube introduce spatial configurations that bring daylight into the cube whilst providing views to the surroundings.
This form of a cube strengthens the building as connecting link in the Rotterdam city center. By choosing for mass instead of height a rich variety of space is being created. The systems of voids within the cube show the different spaces from the outside and the inside. This, and the attractive mix of programmes, will invite and stimulate people to go to the higher levels (vertical city) until the top floor, called “the balcony of the city”.
The 120.00mē project offers approximately 30.000mē of retail, 40.000mē of offices, 20.000mē of residential, and 15.000mē of culture and leisure. There are approximately 600 parking spaces. Multi Development is convinced that the center will be a focal point of activities that will boost the activity in the center, also in the evening.
Hans van Veggel, Chairman of Multi Corporation said: “With the Koopgoot (Beurstraverse) ten years ago Multi introduced a showcase for sustainable public space that connected two parts of the city, with pedestrian zones and traffic in separate layers but yet connected. The new project strengthens the identity of this backbone and creates through its mass and the systems of voids a new iconic building in the city”.