Rotterdam in development

46 R O T T E R D A M I N O N T W I K K E L I N G | 2 0 1 8 he towers are closely connected at the base, and 70 metres off the ground a hotel functions as a striking link joining them together. In addition to 150 rooms for guests, the hotel also offers a spacious restaurant, an extensive roof terrace with a sky bar, conference space and a gym. It is a public space where anyone can indulge in a drink or a snack whilst enjoying the view of the city’s contours from a great height. “This promises to become a unique place in the city,” predict developers Paul Becht (BPD) and René de Wit (Synchroon). “The hotel serves a variety of functions: overnight accommodation for travellers, a living room for the city and support for the residents of the homes in the towers. The hotel connects both towers like a bridge. That is unique, you don’t see that anywhere else.” ANCHOR POINT The restaurant, the roof terrace, the sky bar and the gym all have a view over Rotterdam’s seafaring past: Hotel New York and the former arrivals and departures halls of the Holland America Line, now used as a cruise terminal. This is also where the new Rotterdam is unfolding: the city of high-rise buildings, of the Erasmusbrug, of innovative activity. All the threads from the past and the present come together in De Sax. Paul Becht: “The building really reinforces the city centre to the south of the Nieuwe Maas: it’s an important anchor point between North and South.” René de Wit: “Everyone who sees this building will think: I want to go there.” The informality of the composition of the façade in MVRDV’s design especially appealed to BPD and Synchroon, because it calls to mind a jazzy improvisation. Paul Becht: “Not homogeneous; irregular. Not rigid; varying. That typical jazzy effect matches our planning concept and really appeals to the imagination.” There is also an extra focus within the design on the functions at the base of the building, including variety in height and public functions such as restaurants and shops. The roughly 510 homes in both towers are targeted towards a specific group: a young, urban audience to whom the modern living TWO HIGH-RISE TOWER BLOCKS HAVE YET TO BE BUILT ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE WILHELMINAPIER IN ROTTERDAM: BETWEEN THE TWIN TOWERS OF BOSTON AND SEATTLE AND THE NEW LUXOR THEATRE, THERE IS SPACE FOR PHILADELPHIA AND HAVANA. THE TOWERS WILL BE VISIBLE FROM EVERY PART OF THE CITY, AND EVERYONE CAN EXPERIENCE THE WIDE VARIETY OF FACILITIES. BPD DEVELOPMENT AND SYNCHROON DEVELOPERS ARE DEVELOPING ‘DE SAX’, A SPECTACULAR URBAN BUILDING CONCEPT WHERE LIVING SPACE AND FACILITIES ARE COMBINED IN A WELL-THOUGHT-OUT WAY. FOLLOWING AN INTERNATIONAL PANEL OF ARCHITECTS, THE ROTTERDAM ARCHITECTS FIRM MVRDV WAS AWARDED THE PRIZE FOR THE WINNING DESIGN. WITH ITS STRIKING MUSICALITY, THIS DESIGN WILL GET THE WILHELMINAPIER SWINGING.