Rotterdam in development

105 R O T T E R D A M I N D E V E L O P M E N T | 2 0 1 8 SUPERSTRUCTURE In Cooiman’s view, development in context has met its ultimate application in the Fenix sheds (Fenixloodsen) along the Rijnhaven. Shed 1 is undergoing major renovations, but it will also retain a lot of its old character. Above the existing shed – built on a steel tabletop construction that rests on 16-metre-high legs – a superstructure of seven and five storeys with a total of 212 loft apartments in a variety of shapes and sizes. The fully-renovated shed will attract cultural and commercial functions, as well as an indoor parking garage. The risk of context-based development leading to unforeseen situations is demonstrated in the need to adapt the plan for Shed 1. The design and the foundations of the building’s steel construction have had to be adjusted to accommodate large concrete blocks in the ground. “Of course, I can easily imagine that buyers would have liked to have entered their new home sooner. We would also rather not be in this situation.” “During the developments in the Parkkwartier we were hugely charmed by the Fenix sheds, the place and their history,” says Cooiman. “But redevelopment would take years, and we wanted to do something with it in the meantime. Then, together with the municipality, we thought about how to make a visit to De Kaap easier, and use that to raise the neighbourhood’s profile. You can’t love something if you haven’t got to know it.” CREATIVE, CULTURAL, CULINARY The industrial sheds would go on to house organisations such as the up-and-coming Fenix Food Factory, Circus Rotjeknor, Codarts and the unconventional e-bike manufacturer Crooze. “Now there are calls to maintain Shed 2 in its original state. You get that a lot after successful temporary efforts.” Meanwhile, Codarts, Conny Jansen Danst and Circus Rotjeknor have already chosen Shed 1. Around 2,000 m2 of commercial space is already open and attracting a lot of interest. “The necessary patience, significant risks, uncertainties, diverging interests and probably also opportunism make inner-city developments extraordinarily complex,” as Cooiman puts it. “A fast food chain would want to sign immediately for the commercial space in Shed 1, but that would go against our joint 3C-concept for the whole area: creative, cultural, culinary.” HARBOUR ICON The Fenix sheds are the apple of Cooiman’s eye. He talks about how the story began in 1912 with the construction of the giant San Francisco Shed for the storage and transfer of goods. The 360-metre-long and 65-metre-wide shed was built using the then-novel material: concrete. At the end of the Second World War, the German occupiers left the shed half destroyed. Fortunately, the massive concrete construction and the frontages survived the destruction in reasonably good condition, and it was possible to rebuild. During this process, the section that had been destroyed, mainly on the water side, was demolished. A 1949 fire probably finished off the long shed: the middle section was demolished (where the landing of the Rijnhavenbrug is now), and since then the structure has been split in two. The name was aptly changed to Fenix (‘Phoenix’), a name full of history for a building full of scars. And now the San Francisco Shed is beginning its third life, says Cooiman, which has clearly made an emotional impact on him. He is working to recover an original harbour crane, several of which used to run along the wharf to load and unload ships, and to install it on the wharf. It will be the crowning glory of ‘the renaissance of a harbour icon’. That renaissance mirrors that of De Kaap as a whole.