De Rotterdam, vertical city by OMA/Rem Koolhaas completed

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Category: Latest news Visit Holland

Wilhelmina Pier Rotterdam, November 21, 2013 – The largest multifunctional building in the Netherlands has been completed.

Not even 4 years after starting construction, MAB Development and OVG Real Estate have turned over De Rotterdam to its future users. After a period of finishing and furnishing, residents will start to move into this vertical city, designed by OMA, in early 2014.

De Rotterdam, in total 160.000 m2 of floor space on an area the size of just one football field, is a building that calls for superlatives. When, probably in the autumn of 2014 the entire building is occupied, around 85% has already been rented out or sold, the total number of people on the Wilhelmina Pier will be doubled. On average around 5,000 people will be in the building on a daily basis. Aside from being the most densely built-up piece of land in the Netherlands, this will make it the most densely populated area too.

‘De Rotterdam’, with its 60,000 m2 of office space, hospitality and catering covering around 1,500 m2, a four-star lifestyle hotel with conference and event facilities and 280 rooms, a car park with space for 670 vehicles, 240 apartments and leisure facilities will be a vertical city on the Wilhelmina Pier.

The building at the foot of the Erasmus Bridge is already an unmissable feature of Rotterdam's skyline.
New icon in the center of Rotterdam

This next step in the birth of the vertical city was celebrated in the presence of alderperson Karakus, Jos Melchers from MAB, Coen van Oostrom from OVG, OMA architects Ellen van Loon, Reinier de Graaf and Rem Koolhaas and media representatives from all over the world, such as El País, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and The Daily Telegraph.

H. Karakus, alderperson for Housing, Urban Economy, Real Estate and Spatial Planning and Project Councilor for the Rotterdam-Zuid district: ‘De Rotterdam is a wonderful building which even more firmly puts us on the map as a city of architecture. This is an icon for our city. Aside from this it also strengthens the connection to the city center – a development that was commenced with the construction of the Erasmus Bridge and the Kop van Zuid. De Rotterdam literally lures people across the bridge into the city's southern district.’
Transparent beauty

The signature of OMA/Rem Koolhaas can be found in every detail, for instance in the 8.5 meter high, light central hall that spans the entire width of the building with travertine wall coverings and natural stone flooring, an impressive atrium, brass wall coverings in the lift area and the reception. De Rotterdam consists of a 6-storey base approximately 30 meters high. On top of that there are 3 transparent towers with around 7 meters of space between each of them. The glass façade of the building means that there are floor to ceiling windows on all floors, which opens up the building to its environment.
According to plan

This means the largest building under construction in Europe was completed within 4 years, according to plan and within the budget. Mischa Molsbergen, Project Director of De Rotterdam C.V.: ‘This is a really unique achievement, made possible by the professionalism and enormous commitment of all parties involved in the realization of this project. Aside from the fact that De Rotterdam is a beautiful new icon of the city, superlatives apply to every part of this building. To list but a few numbers: it's a building with more than 7,500 spaces, based on around 40,000 drawings, with, on a daily basis, up to 800 construction workers on site at the same time. For this reason, as developers, we proudly turn over this building to the city and the new users and we are confident that this vertical city will function successfully.'

Recently a rental contract for office space in the East Tower was signed with Smallegange, a legal firm specialized in maritime and transport law, and the construction company Strabag.
Involved parties

De Rotterdam is a development by De Rotterdam C.V., a joint venture made up of MAB Development from The Hague and OVG Projectontwikkeling from Rotterdam. The design of De Rotterdam is by OMA.
FGH Bank is the financier of this project and in total 7 different contractors were involved in the realization of De Rotterdam: Züblin Nederland (construction), Roodenburgh Installatie Bedrijf (installations), TGM and Scheldebouw (façade), Kone (lifts), Eneco (heating/cooling), and SBB (hotel finishing).