De Rotterdam by OMA - Office of Metropolitan Architecture.

"The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) today marked the completion the largest building in the Netherlands, the De Rotterdam, a mixed-use, 160,000m2 slab-tower conceived as a ‘vertical city’ on the river Maas.

“Efficiency has been a central design parameter from day one.” says OMA partner Ellen van Loon. “The extreme market forces at play throughout the course of the project, far from being a design constraint, have in fact reinforced our original concept. The result is a dense, vibrant building for the city.” The building is named after one of the original ships of the Holland America Line, which from 1873 to the late 1970s transported thousands of emigrating Europeans bound for New York from the Wilhelmina Pier, next to which De Rotterdam is situated.

The three stacked and interconnecting towers of De Rotterdam rise 44 floors to a height of 150 meters and span a width of more than 100 meters. “Nevertheless, the building is exceptionally compact, with a mix of programs organized into distinct but overlapping blocks of commercial office space, residential apartments, hotel and conference facilities, restaurants and cafes.” says OMA.

Office employees, residents and hotel guests are brought together in conference, sport and restaurant facilities. The building’s shared plinth is the location of the lobbies to each of the towers, creating a pedestrianized public hub by means of a common hall. “Despite its scale and apparent solidity, the building’s shifted blocks create a constantly changing appearance, different from every part of the city. The fact that it stands today represents a small triumph of persistence for the city, the developer, the contractor and the architects.” says OMA founder and partner Rem Koolhaas.

The various phases of design and construction were supervised by partners-in-charge Rem Koolhaas, Ellen van Loon and Reinier de Graaf, and associate-in-charge Kees van Casteren.

Project: A mixed-use vertical city
Status: Commission 1997, groundbreaking December 2009, completion November 2013
Clients: De Rotterdam CV, The Hague (Joint venture MAB, The Hague / OVG, Rotterdam)
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Site: Former harbour waterfront between KPN tower and Cruise Terminal at Kop van Zuid
Program: Total 162,000m2: offices 72,000m2; 240 apartments 34,5000m2; hotel (278 rooms) / congress / restaurant 19,000m2; retail / F&B 1,000m2; leisure 4,500m2; parking (approx. 650 vehicles) 31,000m2"

I've always been inspired by architecture. To me, this building is very simple and easy on the eyes, but it's a huge architectural feat. The fact that this building changes depending on the angle you view it from really connects it to our class where we really emphasized looking at sculpture from all different angles (we want it to make us sweat a little). I will admit that i'm not necessarily a fan of the overall design because it looks chunky and not very elegant, but at the same time I find it fascinating- it's similar to stacking blocks like you would as a child.