The Rotterdam City Extension by Rem Koolhaas

The municipality of Rotterdam has organized a competition for the expansion of its main building, which will include new facilities for both mixed-use public space, as new administrative offices and even a residential program. The main requirement of the contest is that the new building is “the most sustainable of all the Netherlands.”

The project, which has a budget of € 65 million, affecting an area of 6 hectares located behind the current council, including Stadstimmerhuis municipal monument. The program includes the construction of a total of 48 400 m2, spread over 8700 m2 for Stadswinkel XL (municipal offices to the public), other municipal buildings of 15,700 m2, 10,400 m2 for housing, 3,400 m2 of additional public spaces, 1,600 m2 of shops and a 8,600 m2 park.
The council has presented the five finalists, among which is that of OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architecture, Rem Koolhaas’s office), that of Claus en Kaan Architecten, the Mecanoo Architecten Meyer and van Schooten Architecten. From September 13 all the finalists will be available to receive public input through the official contest web -rotterdam.nl www.stadskantoor. The architects finalists presented their projects to the jury on 23 September and in October will be announced the winner.
Rem Koolhaas, the architect Dutchman currently more prestige and recognition, lives and works in Rotterdam, where he is also the headquarters of WCO. That is why this project takes on a special significance for the architect, who will personally direct. As Koolhaas himself, it is necessary to ask the question after what the city really needs, “since Reconstruction after the bombings of 1940, Rotterdam has suffered a sharp architectural sequence of transitions – from the first currency of the cubes, and even the current Netherlands apotheosis of modernity, postmodernism through 90 – each one almost an ideological phenomenon that has been juxtaposing some layers on one another, each trying to forget the previous one, but living together and being opposed to each other. What we now need the city can be an ambiguous building to avoid overdose of ways. We propose a building amorphous, which consists of small structural elements that are taking the necessary form as they have to fulfill a certain responsibility. ”
The proposal submitted by OMA, a three-dimensional structure of steel, can improvise and release to the ground almost entirely to improve interaction between citizens and the city in a spacious and dignified cityscape. In addition to meeting the most demanding requirements for energy efficiency, provides a sustainable approach in terms of speed of construction and future flexibility, since the building was constructed by a repetitive structural system, flexible and adaptable to future requirements. In total, the new buildings would reach a maximum height of 63 m structured in 20 floors, of which 3 would be underground.